Guangzhou, Nov 23 (IANS) Somdev Devvarman, who created history Tuesday by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Asian Games men’s singles tennis, was short of words to describe his achievement.
The Indian had also won the singles gold medal at the Commonwealth Games at home in October.
Somdev, who also grabbed the gold in men’s doubles with Sanam Singh here, was fourth after Leander Paes (Hiroshima 1994), Mahesh Bhupathi (Bangkok, 1998) and Prahlad Srinath (Bangkok 1998) to win a singles medal in tennis at the Asian Games.
‘I am very happy to get a gold here. It’s a dream come true. No one comes to an Asian Games thinking of winning two gold,’ said Somdev, who beat top seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-2 to finish on top.
The 106th-ranked Indian later wrote on the social networking site Twitter: ‘I actually don’t know how to react right now!! I’m so proud to be Indian!!!’
His Davis Cup teammates Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi sent congratulatory messages to him on Twitter. Even Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan lauded Somdev’s effort on his Twitter page.
‘Somdev wins gold in tennis singles Asiad .. Bravo !! Congratulations !! We are all proud of you Somdev ..done India proud,’ Bachchan wrote.
Bhupathi, who skipped the Asian Games for the ATP World Tour Masters, called it a ‘huge’ win for Somdev.
‘Please stand up and take a bow!! Hang on, take two:) for 2 Gold!!outstanding effort Bujji.. Its Huge,’ tweeted Bhupathi, who with Leander Paes, won two successive gold medals at the Asian Games in Busan and Doha.
‘Performance bujj. Great effort,’ tweeted Bopanna.
Somdev is fondly called Bujji by his family an friends.
