Asian Games: Yuki Bhambri, Sania-Prarthana settle for bronze

Incheon: Indian men's doubles pair of Sanam Singh and Saketh Myneni assured India of at least a silver medal in tennis while Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan missed out on a golden opportunity to make it 1-2 for the country blowing away two match points en route settling for a bronze.

Sanam, who also won men's doubles gold at the Guangzhou Asian Games reached the title round combining with big-serving Saketh as the fifth-seeded Thai twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana 4-6 6-3 10-6 in Super tie-break with the match lasting an hour and seven minutes. Bhambri and Sharan lost to Korean pair of Lim Yongkyu and Chung Hyeonas to end up with bronze medal.

The fourth seeded Indian duo went down 7-6 (10-8) 6-7 (8-6) 11-9 against eighth seeded Koreans in a hard-fought battle that lasted two hours and 15 minutes at the Yeorumul Tennis Courts here.

In a closely-fought contest, Yuki-Divij pair had two match-points leading the tie-break 6-4 before Divij netted a drop shot and Yuki missed the next point as the Koreans drew level at 8-6.

It was a stiff fight in the 'Super Tie-break' in which the Korean pair held their nerve to make it to the final Earlier, Yuki Bhambri and the combination of Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombaref had settled for a bronze each after losing the men's singles and women's doubles semifinals, respectively.

Yuki Bhambri also bags bronze in men's singles:

Yuki Bhambri on Sunday clinched India's lone singles' medal in tennis at the ongoing Asian Games, settling for a bronze in the men's event after unforced errors cost him the semifinal clash against Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka here.

Alongside, Yuki's bronze India also won one more medal in tennis after the pair of Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare bagged bronze in women's doubles bronze.

A profligate Yuki lost the match 6-3 2-6 1-6 in one hour and 46 minutes. The Indian started brilliantly and took a little over half hour to pocket the opening set but the match turned on its head in the very next set. The Japanese raised his game, helped by the sudden surge in the number of unforced errors committed by the Indian.

In the end, it was a case of missed opportunities for Yuki, who settled for a third-place finish. In the previous edition of the Games, Somdev Devvarman had won India's maiden men's singles gold.

Sania-Prarthana duo wins bronze:

Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare settled for a bronze after losing their women's doubles semifinal to Chinese Taipei's Chin Wei Chan and Su Wei Hsiehin in the Asian Games, on Saturday.

The fifth seeded Indian combo put up a brave fight before going down 6-7 (1-7) 6-2 10-4 to the Chinese Taipei duo, seeded second, at the Yeorumul Tennis Courts here.

Sania and Prarthana took the courts and toiled hard for an hour and 35 minutes but at the end failed to make it to the finals. Both the pairs fought hard in the opening frame to take the set to a tiebreaker.

The Taipei duo finally managed to win the set after nearly an hour's play. The Indians, however, came back strongly in the second set and managed to prevail over their higher ranked opponents in just 32 minutes.

But the deciding set turned out to be a cake-walk for the Taipei combination as they took barely 10 minutes to seal it 10-4 and draw the curtains on the tie.