Hangzhou: Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni settled for silver in the men’s doubles at the Asian Games after being edged out by Hsu Yu-Hsiou and Jason Jung of Chinese Taipei, but India’s hopes of winning a gold medal on the tennis courts are still alive with the mixed team reaching the title showdown here on Friday.
The Taipei pair were unseeded, but Hsu (182) and Jung (231) were both higher-ranked singles players and it showed in their groundstrokes and the way they went about their business in a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the second-seeded Indians in the title clash.
Hsu was solid from the baseline with his powerful serve, while Jung complimented him with his lightning-quick hands at the net.
This is the first Asian Games medal for Ramkumar and the third for Myneni, who had won a silver in the men’s doubles with Sanam Singh and a gold with Sania Mirza in the mixed doubles at the 2014 edition in Incheon.
“This is my first Asian Games medal, I always wanted to win a medal for India. It was one of my goals and that too with Saki (Saketh), I am very happy,” Ramanathan said.
“We gave our best in every game, every point and we are extremely happy to have been able to finish with a silver medal.
“The Asian Games are huge and it is obviously a big thing to win a medal. But every tournament is as important to us as the Asian Games. It is a profession, we do it for a living and we love what we do. Hopefully, we can get more medals for the country next time,” added Ramkumar, who had a tough 2023 season.
Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale defeated Chinese Taipei duo Chan Hao-ching and Yu-Hsiou Hsu 6-1, 3-6, 10-4 in the mixed doubles semi-final.
In the men’s doubles final, neither team lost a point in the first three games. It was only when Jung double-faulted in the fourth game that a team scored a point on their opponent’s serve.
The score was 2-2, with all four players holding serve with high-quality serves.
Ramkumar’s serve was under pressure as Hsu found a stunning forehand winner to take a 30-0 lead. The score was 30-0 when Jung hit a service return winner to earn the first break point of the match.
Taipei got the break thanks to a volley winner from Jung. Hsu consolidated the break to lead 4-2 thanks to deep returns from the baseline and the Indians committed a few unforced errors.
Jung struggled a bit with his first serve, but his partner was terrific at the net.
Coming in to serve to stay in the set, Ramkumar started with a double fault but made up for it with a couple of aces.
The Taipei team closed the set in their favour with Hsu maintaining his service rhythm.
In the second set, it was Ramkumar’s serve that came under pressure. At 15-30 in the third game, he double-faulted to give the Taipei team two break chances, but he managed to save both.
Ramkumar’s forehand return sailed over the baseline as Myneni served at 15-all in the ninth game and Hsu’s subsequent forehand return winner gave the Taipei players two break chances.
They saved the first but Jung hit a backhand volley winner on a weak return from Myenei to seize the opportunity.
Ramkumar’s wide forehand gave Taipei three match points and they triumphed when Myneni’s backhand flew over the baseline.
“Unfortunately we missed out on a point but we are very happy with what we played this week. I think we played some good tennis and credit must go to Chinese Taipei today in the final. So we are very happy with our contribution with the medal won by the Indian contingent,” Myneni said.
“It’s a privilege to play for a country, to carry the tricolour and compete. I think we do that very few times a year. So it’s a big competition, a big event. We’re delighted to have been able to make our contribution.”
