The A.F.R.'s mirror-ambush plan — "The plan was to intercept the…"
The plan was to intercept the travelling team of players and allow A.F.R.s to arrive at the place in their stead. Marathe promised to conceive an excellent ruse to explain the wheelchairs and adult beards of the false players.
Context
The infiltration plan's absurd hinge, deferred with total confidence: legless bearded adults will impersonate junior tennis players, and some as-yet-unconceived "excellent ruse" will explain the wheelchairs. The A.F.R.'s standing bet made explicit — American institutions will accept any story rather than interrogate a disabled body — scaled up to its most preposterous test case, which the E.T.A. locker room duly laughs off (183, in the spine).