Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni won the men's doubles silver medal at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China after being defeated by Chinese Taipei's Hsu Yu-Hsiou and Jason Jung.
India's hopes of winning a gold from the tennis courts is still alive with the mixed team pair of Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale reaching the title clash. The duo of Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale outplayed the Chinese Taipei duo of Chan Hao-ching and Yu-Hsiou Hsu 6-1 3-6 10-4 in the mixed double semifinal.
In the men's doubles, the Taipei team was unseeded but both Hsu (182) and Jung (231) were better-ranked singles players and produced a 6-4 6-4 victory against the second-seeded Indians in the title clash.
It is Ramkumar's first Asian Games medal and third for Myneni, who had won a men's doubles silver with Sanam Singh and a gold with Sania Mirza in the mixed doubles in the 2014 Incheon edition.
"It is my first Asian Games medal, I always wanted to win a medal for India. It was one of my goals and that too coming with Saki (Saketh), very happy about it," Ramanathan said.
"We tried our best every match, every single point and extremely happy that we could finish with a silver. Asian Games is huge and obviously, it's a huge thing to win a medal. But every tournament for us is as huge as the Asian Games. This is a profession, we do this for a living, and we enjoy what we do. Hopefully, we can get more medals for the country the next time," added Ramkumar, who has endured a tough 2023 season.
"Unfortunately, we came one short but very happy with whatever we played this week. I think we played some good tennis, and credit to Chinese Taipei today in the final. So very happy with the contribution with the medal to the Indian contingent," Myneni said.
"It's a privilege to play for a country and wear the tri-colour and compete. I think very few times we do that in a year. So, it's a great competition, a great event. So glad we could make a contribution."