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Asian Games: Somdev Devvarman creates history with first singles gold in tennis

Devvarman created history by becoming the first Indian to win the men’s singles tennis event after outplaying top seed and world No 44 Istomin 6-1 6-2.

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Somdev Devvarman showed on Tuesday how his heart beats for India. His face reflected it when the National Anthem was played here after the men’s singles final.

He played his heart out and annexed the singles gold, proving that the honour of tricolour is more valuable than personal rankings.

He created history by becoming the first Indian to win the men’s singles tennis event after outplaying top seed and world No 44 Istomin 6-1 6-2.

That Devvarman’s task was made easy by an off-colour Istomin did not diminish his achievement. More than anything, it was a test of his endurance. The way he turned out his ‘A’ game against the Uzbek, after being involved in an energy-sapping, nerve-wracking doubles final less than 24 hours ago, said everything about his passion in representing his country.

Devvarman is the only athlete in this Asian Games to win a double gold for India and his magic has kept India in the eighth spot in the medals tally.  “As a child, I used to dream that I will play for my country and win the gold medal. I can’t believe it is fulfilled. I dedicate this to entire India and to every kid who wants to play for
the country and to my family,” Devvarman said.

“It’s something really special. I became very emotional today because there is no bigger honour than to play and win for India. When the flag was raised and the national anthem played, it was an unforgettable moment. “The final is a different ball game. It’s about rising to the occasion, and you have a packed stadium and 500 million people (back home) watching. It’s been a great year for me, breaking into the top 100, winning Commonwealth Games gold, doing well in Davis Cup, then here,” the 106-ranked Devvarman said.

His personal coach Scott McCain said Devvarman has sacrificed his rankings to make time for his national commitments. “The aim is to get into top 80 in the rankings and for that he has to play a lot more ATP events. Once he breaks into top 80, then he gets the chance to play A grade ATP events like Beijing and Shanghai and earn more ranking points,” said McCain

The Asian Games experience may not help Devvarman much in the ranking but his coach said the experience will be invaluable.

“To be able to play well on this arena (centre court) is vital for a player. You want to be out there playing on the Centre Court in the big matches. Some people are not good on that count. But, Som just thrives in it.”

In total, Somdev won three medals at this edition of the Games as he had earlier won a bronze in team event as well.

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