Asian Games | Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan clinch gold in men’s doubles

Rohan Bopanna, one of India’s veteran tennis players, was mentioned as a medal hopeful ahead of the Indian tennis contingent’s departure for this year’s Asian Games in Indonesia. In the absence of India’s most successful tennis player - Leander Paes, Bopanna along with partner Divij Sharan have managed to work their way to a gold medal at the Asian showpiece with a win in the men’s doubles event.

Bopanna and Sharan utterly dominated Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Bublik and Denis Yevseyev in the final as they beat them in successive sets by a scoreline of 6-3, 6-4. In doing so, the Indian pair bagged the fifth gold medal for the Indian contingent in the ongoing games in the cities of Jakarta and Palembang. 

Earlier, Bopanna and Sharan got the better of Japan's Uesugi K and Shimabukuro S 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 on Thursday after a nervy tie-breaker to reach the finals. In the past the teams that won gold for India in Men's Doubles (Tennis) were - Gaurav Natekar/Leander Paes (1994, Hiroshima), Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes (2002 Busan), Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes (2006, Doha), and Somdev Devvarman, Sanam Singh (2010, Guangzhou). This is the first time that Bopanna has won a medal in this category after he returned to the competition after a gap of almost 10 years.

Yesterday, Prajnesh Gunneswaran ensured another podium finish for India when he beat Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon 6(2)-7, 6-4, 7-6(8) to enter the semifinals of Tennis Men’s Singles. Amongst the women, Ankita Raina had to settle for a Bronze medal on Thursday after she lost 4-6, 6(6)-7 after a tough tie-breaker against China’s Zhang Shuai.