Asiad: India settle for silver in men's doubles tennis

Incheon: The Indian men's doubles tennis team of Sanam Singh and Saketh Myneni won the silver medal, losing their gold medal match to South Korea's Yongkyu Lim and Hyeon Chung 5-7, 6-7 (2-7) in the 17th Asian Games at the Yeorumul Tennis Courts here Monday.

The fifth seeded Indian pair lost to the eight seeded South Korean team in one hour and 29 minutes.

The Indian pair fought valiantly, matching their opponents with every shot. But inexperience proved to be their bane, losing the crucial points to concede the defeat.

The Indians started the match dominantly, not allowing their opponents any loose points. They held on to their serves and pushed the match to 5-5, but lost composure at the most crucial juncture of the match, conceding a service break to hand over the first set 5-7 in 40 minutes.

It was always going to be difficult for the Indians to make a comeback into the match after losing the first set but they managed to do that impressively.

They soaked all pressure to force the match into a tie-breaker, but ran out of steam at the crucial moment. In the tie-breaker, they allowed the hosts to get a substantial lead, eventually succumbing 6-7 in 49 minutes.

Earlier, they overcame top seeded Thai pair of Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana Sunday to reach the men's doubles final, beating their opponents 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 in an hour and three minutes via a super tie-breaker.