Leander Adrian Paes won the bronze medal* in the Men’s single tennis at the Summer Olympics Games 1996 / Atlanta Olympics in USA. August 31st,1996.
Paes shared the podium with Andre Agassi(3 Grand Slam Winner)and Sergi Bruguera(2 Grand Slam Winner)
Leander Paes, Indian Professional Tennis Player is considered one of the best doubles and mixed doubles players in the world.
The 23 year-old was India’s first athlete since 1952 to win in individual sports . Leander Paes won for India after a long spell of 44 years where India had been without an individual medal. In 1952 K.D. Jadhav won a bronze medal in wrestling.
He began playing tennis at the age of 5 and in 1985 joined Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy in Madras(now Chennai) where he was coached by Dave O’Meara.
Leander Paes was born in Calcutta(now Kolkata)on June 17th,1973 to Dr.Vece Paes(National Hockey Bronze medallist- Munich Olympics 1972) and mother Jennifer Paes(Captained the Indian Basket Ball team – Asian Basketball Championship 1980). He currently lives in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
*Atlanta Olympics :
First round : Defeated Richey Rineberg(United States) 6-7,7-6,1-0 retired
Second round : Defeated Nicolas Pereira(Venezuela) 6-2,6-3
Third round : Defeated Thomas Enquisit(Sweden) 7-5,7-6
Quarter finals : Defeated Renzo Furlan(Italy) 6-1, 7-5
Semi-finals : Lost to Andre Agassi(United States) 6-7,3-6
Bronze medal match : Defeated Fernando Meligeni(Brazil) 3-6,6-2,6-4