Uzbeks upstage Bopanna-Yuki pair

Hangzhou, September 25

In a huge upset, gold medal favourites and top seeds Rohan Bopanna (in pic) and Yuki Bhambri were knocked out of the Asian Games after being stunned by lower-ranked Sergey Fomin and Khumoyun Sultanov from Uzbekistan here today.

Bhambri struggled with his serve and strokes in the latter part of the match while the Uzbek players raised their game against their superior opponents to walk away with a 2-6 6-3 10-6 win in the second round. The defeat will rankle the Indian pair all the more as Bopanna is a top-10 player in the doubles and Bhambri is ranked among the top-100. The Uzbeks are not even in the top-300.

India coach Zeeshan Ali said that Bopanna did not get the required support from Bhambri. “At this level and being an experienced player, one cannot afford to make many errors at crucial moments of the match,” he said.

Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni progressed to the quarterfinals after beating Indonesia’s Ignatius Anthony Susanto and David Agung Susanto 6-3 6-2.

Ankita Raina was off to a flying start while Rutuja Bhosale struggled past lower-ranked opponent to move into the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals.