India finish Asian Games 2026 tennis campaign without a medal for first time since 1986
Sumit Nagal’s 4-6, 4-6 quarter-final defeat to China’s Wu Yibing in Nagoya on Thursday, Oct 1, 2026, ensured India left the Asian Games 2026 without a tennis medal, the country’s first medal-less showing in the sport since 1986. Nagal was the last remaining Indian in the draw when he fell in one hour and 38 minutes.
The result represented a sharp reversal of India’s recent continental form: the country had won medals at every Asian Games since 1990 and had taken at least one tennis gold at each Games from 2002 through Hangzhou 2022. At the 2022 Asian Games, Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale won mixed doubles gold while Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan claimed silver in men’s doubles, underlining the contrast with the Nagoya outcome. India entered the 2026 tournament with multiple doubles combinations and a singles line-up that ultimately failed to reach a podium position.
Nagal, 29 and seeded seventh, reached the last eight after a 6-4, 6-0 win over South Korea’s Hong Seong-chan and a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Uzbekistan’s Sergey Fomin. He was defeated in straight sets by third seed Wu Yibing, 4-6, 4-6, in the quarter-finals, ending India’s run in the men’s singles. Nagal had been described in the report as the country’s final hope for a tennis medal after earlier exits in other events.
Dhakshineswar Suresh advanced to the third round with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Indonesia’s Gunawan Trismuwantara before losing 3-6, 4-6 to sixth seed Chun-Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei. Suresh was one of the few Indians to progress beyond the opening rounds but did not reach the medal stages. No other Indian singles player reached a medal round in Nagoya.
India had no entry in the women’s singles draw; the final women’s squad consisted only of Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale, both selected for doubles events. That limited female representation meant India’s chances in singles were absent from the start. The pairings entered the doubles and mixed draws but were eliminated early, as outlined below.
Both Indian men’s doubles combinations were beaten in the quarter-finals. Fifth seeds Yuki Bhambri and Dhakshineswar Suresh lost 6-7(5), 3-6 to Chinese Taipei’s Chenjui Ho and Yu-Hsiou Hsu, while top seeds N Sriram Balaji and Anirudh Chandrasekar, after taking the opening set 7-6(4), dropped the second-set tie-break 6-7(7) and went down 8-10 in the deciding match tie-break to China’s Jiang Fumin and Zhang Tianhui.
The women’s doubles campaign ended in the opening round when Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale were beaten 7-5, 3-6, 5-10 by Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina and Yuliya Putintseva. India’s mixed doubles entries also exited without a win: N Sriram Balaji and Ankita Raina lost 4-6, 4-6 to Hong Kong’s Eudice Chong and Kairan Thompson in the opening round, while Yuki Bhambri and Rutuja Bhosale, after a first-round bye, were defeated 3-6, 4-6 by Chinese Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh and Chun-Hsin Tseng in the second round.
Nagal’s quarter-final loss confirmed India’s first medal-less Asian Games tennis campaign since 1986, leaving the nation without a podium finish in Nagoya and ending its uninterrupted run of medals at every Games since 1990.
