Archive · 30 Sep 2026
Indian Doubles Collapse Leaves Nagal Lone Asian Games Tennis Hope
India hoped its experienced tennis doubles teams could win a medal at the Asian Games.
Instead, both men’s pairs lost in their quarterfinal matches.
Balaji and Anirudh won the first set but lost the deciding match tiebreak.
Balaji said pressure prevented them from finishing important points.
Bhambri and Dhakshineswar also lost after dropping a close first-set tiebreak.
Dhakshineswar and Bhambri later lost in other events as well.
Sumit Nagal was the only Indian tennis player left in the tournament.
He won his singles match and will next play Yibing Wu of China.
India’s men’s doubles pairs both lost in the Asian Games quarterfinals, ending the country’s doubles medal campaign.
N Sriram Balaji and Anirudh Chandrasekar lost to China’s Fumin Chiang and Tianhui Ziang in a match tiebreak.
Yuki Bhambri and Dhakshineswar Suresh were defeated in straight sets by Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Hsiou Hsu and Chenjui Ho.
Dhakshineswar also lost his men’s singles third-round match, while Bhambri and Rutuja Bhosale exited mixed doubles.
Seventh seed Sumit Nagal defeated Uzbekistan’s Sergey Fomin and will face China’s Yibing Wu in the singles quarterfinals.
- Who
- Indian tennis players, including Sumit Nagal, N Sriram Balaji, Anirudh Chandrasekar, Yuki Bhambri and Dhakshineswar Suresh.
- What
- India’s men’s doubles pairs were eliminated in the quarterfinals, while Sumit Nagal advanced to the singles quarterfinals.
- When
- September 30, during the Asian Games.
- Where
- Nagoya.
- Why
- The doubles pairs lost tightly contested matches; Balaji attributed his team’s defeat to pressure, while the coach described the results as being decided by narrow margins.
Pressure and missed opportunities
Fine margins of elite sport
Reason for the doubles defeats
Pressure and missed opportunities
N Sriram Balaji said his team played better but could not handle the pressure or finish crucial points in the tiebreaks.
Fine margins of elite sport
Coach Ashutosh Singh said both pairs fought hard and that matches at this level can be decided by a couple of points.
Assessment of India’s performance
Pressure and missed opportunities
The defeats were viewed as a collapse because experienced Indian pairs had medal expectations but failed when the matches were close.
Fine margins of elite sport
The coach emphasized that the losses reflected the narrow margins of high-level sport rather than a lack of effort.
- Doubles result
- Both Indian men’s doubles pairs lost in the quarterfinals.
- Balaji-Chandrasekar score
- Lost 7-6(4), 6-7(7), 8-10.
- Bhambri-Suresh score
- Lost 6-7(5), 3-6.
- Nagal result
- Defeated Sergey Fomin 6-3, 6-2.
- Nagal ranking and seed
- Ranked 249th and seeded seventh.
- Next opponent
- Third seed Yibing Wu of China, ranked 111th.
- Mixed doubles result
- Yuki Bhambri and Rutuja Bhosale lost 3-6, 4-6 in the quarterfinals.