As though the shock of losing the men's doubles semi-finals here was not enough, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will now have to sadly take on compatriots Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman in a bid to actually deny them a medal
As though the shock of losing the men's doubles semi-finals here was not enough, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will now have to sadly take on compatriots Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman in a bid to actually deny them a medal.
Leander Paes serves during his doubles match against Australia's Peter
Luczak and Paul Hanley yesterday. pic/AFP
Top seeds Paes and Bhupathi lost to Australia's Paul Hanley and Peter Luczak 6-2, 6-2 moments after Bopanna and Devvarman went down to England's Ross Hutchins and Ken Skupski 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.
An already disappointed Paes was hurt furthermore to see Bopanna-Devvarman go down. "They are a good side and I was not expecting them to lose. But the sad part is that now Hesh and me have to face them tomorrow and try to beat them for the bronze medal.
I would have loved to play them in the semis or the final because in that way either of us would have ended up with a medal. But now as we play the bronze medal match, one of us will be denied a medal. The very thought of going out on court tomorrow and facing Bops-Som on the other side of the net is hurting me," Paes told MiD DAY yesterday.
Meanwhile, there was good news for India in the singles though. Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza made it to the gold medal match in the men's and women's singles respectively.
Somdev didn't have much trouble in ousting Australian Matt Ebden 6-3, 6-1, while Sania came back strongly to get the better of Australia's Olivia Rogowska in three sets 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. "My heart is still beating very fast. The win has not sunk in yet. It's great to play for gold," said Sania.
"It's a guaranteed medal for the country so I'm very happy to be in the final,"
said Devvarman.
ADVERTISEMENT
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
