Asian Games tennis: Bopanna, Sharan clinch doubles gold

Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna beat Kazakhstan's Denis Yevseyev and Alexander Bublik: File photo

Jakarta: India's Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan bagged the men's doubles gold medal at the Asian Games tennis competition at Palembang on Friday.

They beat Kazakhstan's Denis Yevseyev and Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4 in the final. The Indian duo took the opening set in 25 minutes with the help of a single break. It was the same story in the second set too as the Indians wrapped up the tie without much trouble. The final lasted just 52 minutes.

Bopanna and Sharan became the fourth Indian pair after Gaurav Natekar and Leander Paes (1994), Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi (2002 and 2006) and Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh (2010) to clinch the men's doubles gold at the Games.

Sharan had won a bronze along with Yuki Bhambri in the last edition at Incheon.

Ankita Raina had won a bronze for India in the women's singles on Thursday, while Prajnesh Gunneswaran is assured of at least a bronze after making it to the men's singles semifinals.

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