Indian’s Tennis pair Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan bagged their maiden men’s doubles gold medal at the on-going Asian Games, dominating the final clash with a thoroughly clinical performance in Palembang.
Bopanna and Sharan defeated Aleksander Bublik and Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan 6-3 6-4 in 52 minutes.
India have claimed the men’s doubles gold on four occasions at the Games, the last pair being Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh in the 2010 Guangzhou edition.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes remain the most successful Indian men’s doubles pair in the Asian Games history, having claimed back-to-back gold medals in the 2002 and 2006 Games.
Following their feat, Indian tennis fans including Virender Sehwag, Sania Mirza and sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore among others flooded social media site Twitter with congratulatory messages with some termed this win as ‘proud moment for India.’
Here are some of the reactions:
Heartiest Congratulations Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan for the Gold in Men’s Tennis doubles. Also congratulations to Heena Sidhu for her bronze in 10m air rifle. #AsianGames2018_ _ pic.twitter.com/ALXw87nxu0
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 24, 2018
India proudly cheers the great team work of_Rohan Bopanna_and Divij Sharan._Congratulations to both of them for winning the Gold medal in_Tennis Men’s Doubles event_at #AsianGames2018. pic.twitter.com/VjaWs2ZfZM
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) August 24, 2018
GOLD NUMBER 6
Indian tennis champs @rohanbopanna and @divijsharan have excelled themselves, and with their FANTASTIC performance, won a GOLD in Men’s Doubles!! #AsianGames2018 #KheloIndia #IndiaAtAsianGames pic.twitter.com/Z0wbs1QrmA
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) August 24, 2018
GOLD!!!! @divijsharan @rohanbopanna #tennis #asiangames #doubles ______
— Mahesh Bhupathi (@Maheshbhupathi) August 24, 2018
Gooolllddddddd ____ yeahhhh boyyyssss @rohanbopanna @divijsharan ____ @asiangames2018 pic.twitter.com/NkjkwT8XBF
— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) August 24, 2018
Meanwhile, experienced Indian shooter Heena Sidhu took bronze in the women’s 10m Air Pistol event.
Heena scored 219.2 in the final. Wang Qian of China won gold with 240.3 while South Korea’s Kim Minjung (237.6) got silver.