Asian Games: Sumit Nagal Loses Quarterfinal as India End Tennis Campaign Without Medal Since 1986

October 1, 2026

Nagoya: India’s tennis campaign at the Asian Games ended without a medal for the first time since 1986 after Sumit Nagal lost his men’s singles quarterfinal to China’s Wu Yibing in straight sets on Thursday.

Nagal went down 4-6, 4-6 to Wu at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center, bringing an end to India’s medal hopes in tennis at the continental event.

Sumit Nagal Loses to Wu Yibing in Quarterfinal

Nagal was unable to avenge his earlier defeat to Wu at the ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai tournament, where he had lost in the round of 128.

The Indian struggled with his first serve during the quarterfinal. He landed 66 per cent of his first serves, winning 62 per cent of points behind them and 59 per cent on second serves. However, he was broken three times during the match.

Before Nagal, Suresh Dhakshineswar had also exited the men’s singles event after losing 3-6, 4-6 to Chinese Taipei’s Tseng Chun-hsin in the round of 16.

India Also Miss Out in Men’s Doubles

India also failed to win a medal in men’s doubles for the first time since the 1998 Asian Games.

The pairs of Yuki Bhambri-Dhakshineswar Suresh and Anirudh Chandrasekar-N Sriram Balaji both suffered quarterfinal defeats.

Bhambri and Suresh lost to Chinese Taipei’s Ray Ho and Hsu Yu-hsiou, while Balaji and Anirudh went down to China’s Jiang Fumin and Zhang Tianhui in a tie-break thriller.

In women’s doubles, Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale were eliminated in the first round by Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina and Yuliya Putintseva.

India’s mixed doubles pairs also failed to reach the medal rounds. Yuki Bhambri and Rutuja Bhosale lost to Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-wei and Tseng Chun-hsin in the round of 16, while N Sriram Balaji and Ankita Raina exited in the round of 32 against Hong Kong, China’s Eudice Chong and Kairan Thompson.

India Had Won Two Tennis Medals in Hangzhou

India had won two tennis medals at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale won gold in mixed doubles, while Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni claimed silver in men’s doubles.

India have won 34 Asian Games tennis medals, including 10 gold medals.

However, the latest campaign ended without a medal, marking India’s first medal-less Asian Games tennis campaign since 1986.