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Sportshour: Leander Paes on Barcelona, Muhammad Ali and tennis immortality

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Leander Paes on Barcelona, Muhammad Ali and tennis immortality

13/01/2024 GMT

BBC World Service - Sportshour, Leander Paes on Barcelona, Muhammad Ali and tennis immortality

Indian tennis great Leander Paes reflects on his glittering career

Indian tennis great Leander Paes joins us to reflect on his glittering career ahead of his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Paes tells us he gave up on his dreams of making it as a footballer with FC Barcelona, when a coach told him he would need to relinquish his Indian passport in favour of a European one, in order to progress in the sport. He also reflects on his early struggles in tennis and how he met Muhammad Ali at the 1996 Olympics after he won a bronze medal at the Games.

Zion Clark is an MMA fighter, wrestler and Olympic hopeful. The American was also born with a rare condition called Caudal Regression Syndrome, which left him without legs and after being given up for adoption, he spent his childhood in the care system. He joins us along with his mentor Craig Levinson to discuss his remarkable story.

And – former England netballer Sonia Mkoloma tells us how excited she is about being a referee on the television sports entertainment show Gladiators. It's been a hit everywhere from Australia to America and returns to screens in the UK having first had families crowding around their televisions every Saturday night in the 1990s.

Photo: Leander Paes of India during his Gentlemen's Doubles first round match with Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic against Mariusz Fyrstenberg of Poland and Rajeev Ram of the United States on day four of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon on June 26, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

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