Indian duo bent on spoiling Woodies party

India's powerful tennis doubles champions Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi said on Wednesday they were determined to wreck Australia's hopes of an Olympic victory farewell for the famed "Woodies".

The Indians, reunited after a damaging split, plan to stop Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge from ending their unbeaten partnership on a high with an Olympic gold medal at home on Thursday.

"It drives us on even further to try to beat them in front of their home crowd," Paes told reporters after a straight sets win over Romania set India up for a clash with arch-rivals Australia.

"You've got last year's number one doubles team in the world and this year's number one team playing each other in the second round. We're really looking forward to it," he said.

Paes and Bhupathi dominated men's doubles in 1999 before a split over personal and coaching differences let the Woodies climb back to the top and raise hopes that they could finish their unmatched record with back-to-back Olympic golds.

But the Indians got back together recently and say their problems are resolved, although Paes has also struggled with wrist, elbow and leg injuries in recent months.

They were knocked out in the first round of the U.S. Open and are still lacking match practice, having missed the Tashkent Open so they could acclimatise to Australia and allow Paes to carry India's flag in Sydney's opening ceremony.

"We're going out there to work very hard, to try anything we can do, to play the best tennis we can," Paes said of Thursday's clash with Woodforde and Woodbridge.

"Because we know if we do play our best tennis, we can get them."

The Indians beat the Woodies when they last met at the 1999 World Doubles Championships, but the Australians still have the edge on their total encounters, up 3-2.

With Woodforde set to retire at the end of the year, Australia want the Grand Slam champions to finish off with gold.

Paes, who won bronze in the singles at Atlanta in 1996 but was forced out in the first round here, and Bhupathi also carry a massive weight of medal hopes on their shoulders.

Despite being the world's second most populous nation, India has won only a bronze so far in Sydney and is looking to its tennis and hockey teams for a place in the Olympic sun.

"Every set we play, every match we play, things start getting better," said Paes.

"We get confidence, and once we have confidence, we're very tough to beat."

This time the plan is to stick together, at least until the end of 2001.

"Yes, we have resolved our differences and we're on our second honeymoon," Paes said with a laugh.

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