Bopanna-sharan in final, Ankita gets bronze

PALEMBANG: The Indian men’s doubles team of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan registered a hard fought victory to enter the tennis final at the 18th Asian Games here on Thursday.

In other matches on the day, Ankita Raina had to settle for bronze after losing in the women’s singles semi-final. Prajnesh Gunneswaran also ensured a medal from the men’s singles category by entering the semi-finals.

Bopanna and Sharan were made to work hard for an hour and 12 minutes by the Japanese duo of Kaito Uesugi and Sho Shimabukuro before grinding out a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win.

This is the fifth successive Asian Games, when an Indian pair has made the final of the men’s doubles. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won the gold in 2002 and 2006, while Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh won gold in 2010. At Incheon Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh lost in the 2014 final.

For Divij Sharan, the entry into the final is one step better than his bronze medal in 2014, when he paired with Yuki Bhambri. In 2014, India had one gold in mixed doubles (Saketh Myneni and Sania Mirza) besides one silver and three bronze. The Japanese lacked the power and big serve of the Indians, but made up with accurate placements and some good work at the net.

Playing against more experienced and higher ranked opponents, Kaito and Sho did well to win the first set. The second set went with the serve till the Indians earned their first service break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Serving for the set, Divij conceded a 0-40 deficit before fighting back to 40-40 and eventually holding serve to draw level. The Indians then won the tie-breaker to enter the tennis final.

In the women’s singles semi-finals, India’s Ankita Raina will have to be content with a bronze medal after a straight sets loss to top seed Zhang Shuai of China.