Paes, Bhupathi win gold
in tennis doubles

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won India's tenth gold medal in the Asian Games on Friday, winning the men's doubles in tennis.

(c) REUTERS/Lee Jae-won

The former world No. 1 pair, reunited last week only for the Asian Games, had things their way while beating Lee Hyang-Taik and Chung Hee-Seok of South Korea 6-2, 6-3 in the final in an hour and four minutes.

While this was the first Asiad gold for Bhupathi, for Paes, it was the third gold-winning effort after winning two in team events and doubles partnering Gaurav Natekar in the 1994 Games at Hiroshima.

The victory lifted India to fifth position overall in the medals table.

However, Bhupathi's hopes of a double were dashed when he and Manisha Malhotra lost in the mixed doubles final to Janet Whids Lee and Yen Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 3-6, 7-9.

Paes and Bhupathi joined forces for this event despite their second split early this year from the ATP tour because of personal differences.

The Indian pair have won three Grand Slam titles together and Bhupathi went on to claim his fourth when he joined Max Mirnyi of Belarus to claim the U.S. Open doubles last month.

Despite the success, the two have said they are unlikely to team up in the near future.

The Indians broke the home pair twice in each set -- in the third and fifth games in the first set, and in the first and ninth in the second -- as they stamped their class.

So deep was the chasm in standards that any fears the Indians, having not played together since their split early this year, had was quickly trashed.

"Our experience of having played together for seven years helped overcome the pre-tournament concerns... onnce we started we gelled well," said Paes after the win.

"We needed a good start, and after third game in the first set we got the momentum going," he said.

While Paes struggled with his serve a bit, Bhupathi was fluent and the dominant partner.

"It was not an easy match. The opponents were of top quality... it was a matter of keeping our standards high," Paes said.

The tough three-setter the Indians had to play in the semi-final against another Korean pair of Kim dong-Hyun and Kwon Oh-Lee also served as a wake-up call.

"That match tested us a lot, and in a way helped us to prepare for today's match," said Paes, who struggled a bit today due to a torn ligament and the rough court.

"The doctors did a good job to bring me back to shape. And that was another reason I did not play in the singles," Paes said.

India also won the bronze in the doubles event after Vishal Uppal and Mustafa Ghouse reached the semifinals where they lost to the Korean pair.