Asian Games 2023: Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale win gold after come-from-behind mixed doubles victory

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Rohan Bopanna and his 27-year-old mixed doubles partner Rutuja Bhosale registered a come-from-behind win over Chinese Taipei’s combo of Tsung-hao Huang and En-shuo Liang to ensure India's first gold medal in the tennis event at Asian Games 2023.

43-year-old Rohan Bopanna, who recently won the men's doubles title at the US Open 2023, continued with his red hot form and held his nerves to stay solid with his big serves.

The second-seeded Indian team rallied to win the title clash 2-6 6-3 10-4 against Chinese Taipei’s combo of Tsung-hao Huang and En-shuo Liang.

The victory ensured that India will return with at least one tennis gold from the Asian Games in an otherwise disappointing campaign in which the country managed to win only two medals – the other being men’s doubles silver.

The two-medal show is India’s worst at the Asian Games since the turn of the century.

In 2002, India had returned with four medals from Busan and in the following editions the country won four (2006, Doha), five (2010, Guangzhou), five (2014, Incheon) and three (2018, Indonesia) medals.

The men’s doubles team of Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan had won a silver on Friday but other players faded at different stages of the tournament.

No singles player from the country could make it to the medal round with Sumit Nagal and Ankita Raina exiting early.

The Indian tennis contingent also struggled in other team events with the biggest disappointment being the early exit of medal favourites Bopanna and Yuki Bhambri in the men’s doubles.