- Saturday, April 27, 2024
It was India’s third gold medal in tennis mixed doubles after 2006 and 2014 and on both occasions, Sania Mirza was among the winning combination.
By: Shubham Ghosh
VETERAN Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna showed he is yet not a spent force as the 43-year-old paired with Rutuja Bhosale to give India the gold medal in mixed doubles in tennis at the ongoing Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou in China on Saturday (30).
They beat Taiwan’s Tsung-hao Huang and En-shuo Liang pair 2-6, 6-3, [10-4] at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre
The Indian duo staged an impressive comeback after squandering the first set. They secured the second set to take the game into the tie breaker which they eventually clinched.
The Indians’ win in a contest that lasted an hour and 14 minutes maintained the south Asian nation’s record of winning at least one gold in the sport in each edition of the Asian Games held in the 21st century.
For Bopanna, it was the second doubles gold at the Games after the feat in men’s doubles segment at the Jakarta Games in 2018 where he partnered with Divij Saran. This year, Bopanna had an unexpected early exit from the tournament in men’s doubles where he played alongside Yuki Bhambri.
For 27-year-old Bhosale, it was the maiden medal at the Asian Games.
India’s last gold in mixed doubles at the Asian Games came in 2014 when former star player Sania Mirza won the crown with Saketh Myneni. In 2006, Mirza had won India’s first gold in mixed doubles at the Asian Games with Leander Paes.
Myneni won the silver medal along with Ramkumar Ramanathan in the men’s doubles segment this year where they lost to Taiwan’s Jason Jung and Yu-hsiou Hsu 4-6, 4-6.
