The words “Jiayou China” (come on, China) echoed not only whenever Jung or Hsu hit a winner, but also when the Indian’s made a mistake. Consequently, Ramanathan-Myneni lost 4-6, 4-6
Ramkumar Ramanathan (left) and Saketh Myneni with their silver medals yesterday. Pic/PTI
The political issues between Chinese Taipei and China notwithstanding, in Friday’s men’s doubles tennis final between India and Taipei, the 5,000-strong crowd at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre, almost all Chinese, offered their full support to the pair of Jason Jung and Yu-hsiou Hsu, who were up against India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni.
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The words “Jiayou China” (come on, China) echoed not only whenever Jung or Hsu hit a winner, but also when the Indian’s made a mistake. Consequently, Ramanathan-Myneni lost 4-6, 4-6.
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Ramanathan was understandably upset and even threw his racquet on the court just before Jung served on match point. The chair umpire immediately signalled to the crowd to be quiet and they listened. The point though went against the Indians like most of the points throughout the 72-minute encounter, where the Taipei team executed a much better first and second serve percentage (74 and 100 respectively) when compared to that of the Indians (61 and 86 per cent).
Moments after the match, Ramanathan made his disappointment crystal clear. “The crowd just didn’t know when to shout, and when not to shout so that was a bit tough. Obviously, between the first and second serves, it [shouting from the crowd] breaks the rhythm a lot. So, had that [crowd behaviour] been better, it would have been better for us to compete,” said Ramanathan, who won his maiden Asian Games medal for the nation and was proud of it. “To have a medal at the Asian Games is huge. It’s a special feeling to see your team cheering for you during and after a match. The country always comes for us. At the next Asian Games, we will surely have more tennis medals for India,” he promised.
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