Indian tennis touched a new low on Thursday (October 1, 2026) as the country’s contingent returns empty-handed from the Asian Games for the first time since 1986, following the quarterfinal exit of Sumit Nagal in the men’s singles, bringing the curtains down on India’s campaign.
After the exit of medal hopeful doubles pairs on Wednesday (September 30, 2026), India needed its number one singles player, Nagal, to keep the country in the medal hunt, but he went down fighting 4-6 4-6 to China’s Yibing Wu in one hour and 38 minutes. Nagal is already 29, and by the time Doha hosts the next Asian Games in 2030, the player from Jhajjar will be 33. After the recent heartbreaking Davis Cup defeat to South Korea in Seoul in the Qualifiers Round two, a medal-winning show in Japan would have given the tennis fans some solace. After his retirement, India’s best doubles players Yuki Bhambri and N. Sriram Balaji, were expected to carry forward the tradition, but they crashed out from both men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
India coach Ashutosh Singh, who watched India’s campaign collapse in front of his eyes, told PTI, “We obviously would have wanted stronger results, particularly given the quality and experience within the team. “DK (Dhakshineswar) has shown his playing level on the Tour but needs more work to sustain his short bursts into good performance through a physically demanding multiple-week national campaign if he sees himself as being the torchbearer of the team,” Singh said. Talking about the doubles, Singh said, Bhambri and Bhosale got a tough Taipei team. “There were difficult moments, selections and combinations that naturally bring pressure but the team maintained professionalism and supported one another throughout the campaign,” he said.