A flurry of unforced errors by the Briton set Indians nicely with three chances and Bopanna found a backhand victor on the first break point. By the second set the American duo were camping on the baseline while receiving serve and that’s a defensive strategy hardly conducive to penetrative doubles. They put together an incredible 41 match-winning streak which ended this year in February at Doha where they lost to Russians Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina.
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Mixed doubles was India’s best bet for a medal as it featured only 16 teams and winning three matches would have ensured a medal.
The duo swept through the WTA circuit in the second half of past year and will be defending points for winning five titles until the end of the season – including the US Open Grand Slam event and the WTA Finals.
The start of their second set was hardly ideal. That single point proved to be fatal as both archers hit one 10-pointer in the fifth and final set to square it 28-28, allowing Lee to claim the match by the narrowest of margins.
Bopanna, who praised Venus for her gutsy performance, is however determined not to let Saturday’s disappointment affect his performance in the bronze medal play-off. That was the second break chance of the game for the Americans. The next three games were held comfortably by the rest and Bopanna who was struggling till then to get his first serves in, came up with some huge serving to wrap the first set 6-4 for the Indians.
Manu and Sumeeth lost to the Chinese pair of Biao Chai and Wei Hong 13-21 15-21.
More disappointment was in store for the Indian contingent as medal hope discus thrower Vikas Gowda failed to qualify in the qualifying round, securing the 28th position among 35 athletes.
Nirmala Sheoran finished a distant 35th overall in 400m preliminaries after ending up sixth out of seven runners in heat 1 in 53.03 seconds.
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Boxer Manoj Kumar lost 0-3 to Uzbek rival Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in the light welter (64kg) pre-quarterfinal bout. That break of serve spurred on United States of America, who raced to a 5-2 lead in no time and forced a match tie-breaker by breaking India again in the eighth game. The scratchy Indian hockey team campaign was over after they suffered a 1-3 loss against favourites Belgium in quarter-final.
