Medals won by Indian Tennis players in Asian Games history

Tennis was introduced to the Asian Games roster in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan. India is one of the best countries in Tennis in Asia. India currently stands at fifth position in the overall medal tally for tennis at the Asian Games with 9 gold, 6 silver and 17 bronze medals. Japan is on the top of the all-time medal tally with 27 golds and 91 medals.

India has many multiple medalists at the Asian Games, like Leander Paes, who has 5 gold medals in Asian Games. Somdev Devvarman, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza also have two golds each. Here we take a look at the history of Indian Tennis at the Asian Games:

ASIAN GAMES 1966, THAILAND (1 🥉)

This was the first time India won any Asian Games medal in Tennis. Shiv Prakash Mishra and Vinay Dhawan won the Bronze medal in Men's doubles category.

ASIAN GAMES 1978, THAILAND (1 🥉)

Again in Thailand, this was the second bronze medal for India in this sport. The Indian duo of Shyam Minotra and Chiradip Mukerjea took this medal in the Men's doubles category again.

ASIAN GAMES 1982, INDIA (1🥈)

The first silver medal in Tennis was won at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi. The Indian Men's team of Nandan Bal, Enrico Piperno, Jayant Rikhye, and Srinivasan Vasudevan took silver. This was the first team event medal for Indian tennis.

ASIAN GAMES 1990, CHINA (1🥉)

At the 1990 Asian Games, India won their fourth Tennis medal, and the second medal in the Men's team category. The Indian team of Leander Paes, Srinivasan Vasudevan, Zeeshan Ali, and Rohit Rajpal won a bronze medal. This was the second Asian medal for Srinivasan Vasudevan.

ASIAN GAMES 1994, JAPAN (2🥇1🥉)

India won the first-ever Tennis Gold medal in the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan. Leander Paes became the first Indian player to get an Asiad medal in the singles category with a bronze. He also won two golds for himself in the same edition as he took the title in the Men's doubles category with Gaurav Natekar and the Men's team category with Gaurav, Zeeshan Ali, and Asif Ismail.

ASIAN GAMES 1998, THAILAND (4🥉)

India got their first ever Mixed doubles medal in the 1998 Asian Games where Nirupama Vaidyanathan became the first Indian female player to get a Tennis medal. She won a mixed doubles bronze with Mahesh Bhupathi. Mahesh also became the second tennis player after Leander Paes to get three medals in a single edition as he won bronze in both the Men's singles and Men's team categories. India got two medals in the same category as Srinath Prahlad also won the Bronze in Men's singles.

ASIAN GAMES 2002, SOUTH KOREA (1🥇1🥈2🥉)

At the 2002 Asian Games, India won four tennis Medals, two each in Men's and Mixed doubles Category. In Men's doubles, the iconic pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi took the title, and the pair of Vishal Uppal and Mustafa Ghouse ended up with the Bronze Medal. Mahesh and Leander both won medals in Mixed doubles as well - Mahesh won a silver with Manisha Malhotra and Leander got a bronze with Sania Mirza.

ASIAN GAMES 2006,QATAR (2🥇2🥈)

Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes successfully defended their Men's doubles title at the Doha Asian Games beating the Thai pair in the final. Leander added one more gold to his tally as he picked up mixed doubles gold with Sania Mirza. Sania also became the first Indian player to get a medal in the women's singles category by winning a silver medal. She also became the first female Tennis player from India to get three medals. In addition, the Indian women's team also got their first-ever medal at the Asiad by winning a silver medal.

ASIAN GAMES 2010, CHINA (2🥇1🥈2🥉)

The 2010 Asian Games was the most successful Asian Games for India in terms of medals. India won two gold medals, both by Somdev Devvarman. He took India's first-ever Men's Singles Gold and also took Gold in the Men's Doubles category with Sanam Singh. Sania Mirza got her second Women's singles medal in a row by winning a Bronze. She also won a Mixed doubles silver with Vishnu Vardhan. Indian fifth medal came from the Men's team, who won a bronze medal.

ASIAN GAMES 2014, SOUTH KOREA (1🥇1🥈3🥉)

Sania Mirza got her second Mixed doubles Gold at the Asian Games 2014 with Saketh Myneni. She also helped India in getting a first-ever women's doubles medal as she won bronze with Prarthana Thombare. Saketh Myneni also won a bronze medal in Men's singles category and a silver in Men's doubles with Sanam Singh. Indian fifth medal came from the pair of Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan who won a bronze medal.

ASIAN GAMES 2018, INDONESIA(1🥇2🥉)

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan took the only gold medal for India in Tennis at the Asian Games 2018. Ankita Raina became the second Women's Singles player after Sania Mirza to get a medal at the Asian Games when she won bronze. Prajnesh Gunneswaran also got his first-ever Asian Games medal after he won a bronze medal.