UNI
Doha, Dec 14: Amidst nerve-wrecking tension and high drama, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi rewrote another glorious chapter of their career as they snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat, piping Thai twins of Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana 2-1 to retain the tennis doubles gold in the Asian Games here on Wednesday.
Down 5-6 and three match points after having lost the first set, the ''Indian Express'' pair staged yet another incredible fight-back not only to save the game but also the set and then win the next to clinch the gold.
The Indians emerged winners 5-7, 7-6(9/7), 6-3 in a marathon two hours and 32 minutes of an energy-sapping final to defend the gold they had won at the Busan Asiad.
Under pressure, the former world number one pair produced one of the finest fightbacks much to the thrill and joy of the packed stadium.
For once, it was vintage Lee-Hesh pair in action and they seemed to relish the pressure. They started promisingly breaking the second seed pair in the very first game but the Ratiwatanas rallied back strongly and broke the Indians in the sixth and 12th games to take the set (7-5) in 44 minutes.
The second set went by the service till the 11th and in the 12th the stadium watched with bated breath the phenomenal fightback by the famed Indian duo.
Trailing 5-6, Bhupathi served when the Thai brothers went 40-0 up and looked all curtains for the Indians. But Paes and Bhupathi, while playing for the country, have never yielded the ground to their rivals easily and Ratiwatanas realised soon.
Paes, up front, made two explosive returns and the Bhupathi applied the kill to make it deuce. The Thais then had the advantage twice but they could not convert them into winners and the Indians managed to make it six-all.
And in the tie breaker, the Thais led 5-3 at one stage but the Indians managed to put it across them winning it 9-7 to win the set 7-6(9) in 69 minutes to draw parity.
The second set was a classical battle between experience and the easily excitable twins.
The greater experience of the Indian pair -- who have a combined world doubles ranking 183 places better than their younger opponents -- eventually showed in the second set with Paes leading by example with some inspired shot play.
Some poor play by the Indians had given the Ratiwatana's three match points on Bhupathi's serve at 5-6, only for Paes to save all three with some fantastic net play and claw them back to deuce.
Three further match points were saved in similar fashion, the fifth somewhat nervously when Bhupathi left a service return which dropped fractionally long before the pair brought their fans to their feet by forcing a tiebreak.
A lob by Paes resulted in a mini break on the first point, prompting more chest-banging from the Indians, but again the Thai pair refused to buckle, edging in front before more inspired play from Paes gave India a set point at 6-5.
Bhupathi's weak return wasted that chance and the Ratiwatana brothers earned a seventh match point, only for Paes to again save it at the net. Paes then smashed the ball out of court before the Thai's double faulted to lose the set.
Both pairs left the court for a the break, but before the final set could begin the rain began to fall on centre court and play was suspended, cutting the tension which had built to a crescendo as the set neared the end.
Little more than half an hour later the players reappeared under blue skies with Paes and Bhupathi immediately picking up where they had left off, breaking the twins to love to lead 2-0.
However, Bhupathi immediately threw away his own serve to 15 to lose the advantage, but Paes once again seized the match by the scruff of the neck and they broke the twins to lead 3-1, one they would not relinquish this time.
It was fittingly left to Paes to serve out the match in what is his fourth Asian Games appearance, although not before Bhupathi's little dink over the net had saved a break point, after a marathon 154 minutes on court.
The victory had seemed destined to be a lot easier after Paes and Bhupathi raced into a 3-1 lead in the first set, but the Ratiwatanas reeled off three games in a row and then broke Bhupathi to take the set in 44 minutes.
Paes and Bhupathi though came out fighting in the second set with much chest banging together after holding serve to level at 1-1, before the Thais crucially dug deep in a long third game to hold serve.
The Thais had to save another break point in the seventh game, before in the next Bhupathi recovered from 15-40 down on his serve to level the set at 4-4 and it remained on serve to 6-5 in the Ratiwatanas' favour.
The Indians in the process denied another pair of Thai brothers a gold medal in the event after the success of Paradorn and Narathorn Srichaphan on home soil in Bangkok in 1998.