Kolkata: Indian tennis stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were planning to team up again for the doubles at Cincinatti and Indianapolis ahead of the Athens Olympics.

Disclosing this, Paes said today (April 16, 2004) that the Cincinatti event would be held in end-July and the other in the first week of August.

''Both the tournaments will be staged on hard court, which is the surface at Athens,'' Paes told newspersons on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) function.

The former world number one combination, regarded as the Indian Express for their all-conquering run on the doubles circuit, suffered their second split two years ago due to personal differences.

Early this year, both players had said that they were considering joining forces for a couple of tourneys in the doubles circuit to prepare for the quadrennial showpiece at Athens in August.

However, despite their break-up in the circuit, the pair has been serving India well in the Davis Cup, ensuring an unbroken run of wins for the country in the doubles matches.