Sport - Asian Games   

Paes & Bhupathi in semifinals

By A. Vinod

India's Leander Paes makes a forehand return watched by Mahesh Bhupathi in the quarterfinals of the men's doubles against China's Xu Ran and Zeng Shao-Xuan in Busan on Wednesday. — Photo: V. Sudershan

BUSAN Oct. 9. The party is on. But the celebrations will have to remain muted through the next two days as the wait for a possible gold from outside those arenas which had yielded the yellow metal for India so far in the 14th Asian Games is certain to continue till Friday.

Yet for all that, there was no shortage of back-slapping or yells of delight at the Geumjeong stadium on Wednesday, after a minimum of four medals from the tennis competition was assured in favour of the country.

What, in fact, set the tone for the round of celebration that was to follow at the end of the day was the easy 6-4, 6-3 win chalked out by the former World No. 1 pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi over their Chinese rivals Xu Ran and Zeng Shaoxuan in the men's doubles quarterfinals.

True, they might not be the best of friends off court any longer. But then, Paes and Bhupathi, both fiercely patriotic and competitive, proved too hot for their Chinese rivals as the pair sailed into the semifinals in just a shade over 75 minutes.

Also figuring in the round of last four would be the other Indian pair of Vishal Uppal and Mohammed Ghouse, which got the better of its Uzbek rivals Vadim Kutsenko and Dmitriy Tomashevich 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, after a hard fought battle lasting two hours and five minutes.

Later, Paes, partnering Sania Mirza, also entered the mixed doubles semifinals with a fighting 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over the favourite Vittaya Samrej and Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand).

The Indian pair seemed to be on its way out when the Thais came up with a brilliant show and breezed through the first set quite easily. Sania, expectedly, was attacked as the Thais seemed to be on course for an easy victory.

However, the Hyderabadi girl stood the test well and gave admirable support to her senior partner as the Indians made their comeback into the match with early breaks in the second set. The third set was just a formality.

India, however, found itself without a flag-bearer in the men's singles semifinals when Rohan Bopanna lost his quarterfinal encounter against Takao Suzuki (Japan) 5-7, 2-6.

The young Indian, like in the team event match against Uzbekistan, did show some early promise but was unable to withstand the power unleashed by his rival as the match wore on.

The other reverse suffered by the Indians was in the women's doubles wherein Nirupama Vaidyanathan and Manisha Malhotra were defeated 4-6, 4-6 in the quarterfinals by the Japanese pair of Saori Obata and Akiko Morigami.

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