Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale claimed mixed doubles gold with a 2-6 6-3 10-4 win over Chinese Taipei’s Yu-hsiou Hsu and Hao-ching Chan. It was India’s second medal in tennis at the continental event after Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni had won a silver in men’s doubles.
Bhosale raised her game in nick of time while seasoned Bopanna stayed solid with his big serves as India came from a set down to beat Chinese Taipei’s Tsung-hao Huang and En-shuo Liang 2-6, 6-3, 10-4 in the title clash. India’s two-medal show in tennis is the country’s worst at the Asian Games since the turn of the century.
Key points
- Rohan Bopanna began the match with a terrific service game. However, Tsung-hao Huang and Liang En-shuo won two breaks in a row and held their serve to go 5-1 up, and eventually seal the first set 6-2.
- Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale fought back well in the second set and there was nothing separating both teams in the opening seven games. The Indian pair, however, levelled up with a decisive break in the eighth game and took the set 6-3 to induce a match tie break.
- Rutuja Bhosale won her maiden Asian Games medal while Rohan Bopanna added to his gold medal from Jakarta 2018. This was India’s second medal in tennis at the Asian Games 2023, following a silver in the men’s doubles event.
- India have now won seven medals in the mixed doubles category – including three gold – at the Asian Games. Leander Paes-Sania Mirza at Doha 2006 and Saketh Myneni-Sania Mirza at Incheon 2014 are the other mixed doubles champions.
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