Before Hiroshima, Indian tennis had already appeared on the Asian Games podium four times.
Shiv Prakash Misra and Vinay Dhawan won men’s doubles bronze in 1966, Shyam Minotra and Chiradip Mukerjea repeated the feat in 1978, India won men’s team silver at home in New Delhi in 1982, and the men’s team added another bronze in Beijing in 1990.
Then came Hiroshima.
At the 1994 Asian Games, Indian tennis won its first-ever Asian Games gold medals, with Leander Paes and Gaurav Natekar taking gold in men’s doubles and Paes, Natekar, Zeeshan Ali and Asif Ismail winning the men’s team event. Paes also added a bronze in men’s singles. India therefore returned from Hiroshima with three tennis medals — two gold and one bronze.
Hiroshima: The Golden Breakthrough
The 12th Asian Games were held in Hiroshima, Japan, from 2 to 16 October 1994, with tennis contested at the Hiroshima Regional Park Tennis Stadium from October 3 to 13.
India’s men’s team consisted of Leander Paes, Gaurav Natekar, Zeeshan Ali and Asif Ismail.
The team event was played as a best-of-three tie, with two singles followed by a doubles rubber. India reached the semifinal against Malaysia on October 5 and won all three rubbers.
Asif Ismail defeated Ramayah Ramachandran 6–1, 7–5.
Leander Paes defeated Adam Malik 6–2, 6–2.
Zeeshan Ali and Gaurav Natekar then defeated Wilson Khoo and Ramayah Ramachandran 6–1, 6–4.
India entered the final against Indonesia two days later, and again produced a 3–0 victory.
Asif Ismail opened the final by defeating Suwandi 6–1, 6–7(6–8), 6–3, before Paes defeated Benny Wijaya 6–1, 6–3. Ali and Natekar then completed the clean sweep, defeating Bonit Wiryawan and Donny Susetyo 4–6, 6–3, 7–5.
India had its first Asian Games tennis team gold.
Leander Paes: Three Medals in Hiroshima
Paes’ Hiroshima campaign extended beyond the team event.
In men’s singles, he entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed. He advanced to the semifinals, where he faced South Korea’s Yoon Yong-il. The Korean won a closely fought encounter 6–7, 6–4, 7–5, leaving Paes with the bronze medal.
His singles run had included a 6–1, 6–0 quarterfinal victory over Indonesia’s Suwandi.
Paes then combined with Gaurav Natekar in men’s doubles and won the gold medal.
Together with their contribution to the team gold, Paes finished Hiroshima with three medals: two gold and one bronze.
The achievement came at the start of what would become one of the most decorated careers in Indian tennis. Paes had already won the 1990 Wimbledon boys’ singles title, defeating Marcos Ondruska in the final.
Gaurav Natekar: Double Gold
For Gaurav Natekar, Hiroshima was equally special.
Natekar represented India in Davis Cup from 1992 and was part of the Indian team that reached the Davis Cup semifinal in 1993. By the time of Hiroshima, he had already established himself as a leading Indian player.
At the Games, he partnered Paes to win men’s doubles gold and then joined Paes, Zeeshan Ali and Asif Ismail in the men’s team gold.
That made Natekar a double gold medallist in Hiroshima.
Zeeshan Ali: From Beijing Bronze to Hiroshima Gold
Hiroshima was the second consecutive Asian Games appearance in which Zeeshan Ali won a men’s team medal.
Four years earlier in Beijing, he had been part of India’s bronze-medal-winning team alongside Paes, Rohit Rajpal and Srinivasan Vasudevan. In Hiroshima, he returned as part of the quartet that went one better and won gold.
Ali had already reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 126 in December 1988 and had represented India at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was also ranked No. 2 in the world among juniors in 1986.
In Hiroshima, his doubles partnership with Natekar played an important part in India’s team campaign, including the straight-set semifinal win over Malaysia and the three-set victory in the final against Indonesia.
Asif Ismail: The Team’s Other Singles Player
Asif Ismail completed India’s four-man gold-medal team.
He had won the 1993 Indian National singles championship, defeating Vasudeva Reddy in the final, before representing India at the highest level of team competition.
At Hiroshima, Ismail was India’s first singles player in the team event. His victories over Ramayah Ramachandran in the semifinal and Suwandi in the final gave India important points on its route to gold.
His final victory over Suwandi was particularly hard-fought, requiring three sets.
Three Medals That Changed the Story
Hiroshima produced three separate milestones for Indian tennis.
🥇 Men’s Doubles — Leander Paes / Gaurav Natekar
India won its first Asian Games tennis doubles gold.
🥇 Men’s Team — Leander Paes, Gaurav Natekar, Zeeshan Ali & Asif Ismail
India won its first Asian Games tennis team gold, defeating Indonesia 3–0 in the final.
🥉 Men’s Singles — Leander Paes
Paes became India’s first Asian Games tennis medallist in the singles event, reaching the semifinal before losing to Yoon Yong-il.
Together, those results gave India two gold medals and one bronze in tennis at Hiroshima 1994.
For Paes and Natekar, it was a double-gold Games. For Zeeshan Ali, it was a move from team bronze in Beijing to team gold in Hiroshima. And for Asif Ismail, it was a defining moment as part of India’s first Asian Games tennis team to finish on top.
Most importantly, Indian tennis had finally moved from the lower steps of the podium to the top.
Asian Games Fact File
Edition: 12th Asian Games
Host: Hiroshima, Japan
Tennis venue: Hiroshima Regional Park Tennis Stadium
Tennis dates: October 3–13, 1994
Indian tennis medals: 3
Gold: Men’s Doubles; Men’s Team
Bronze: Men’s Singles
Indian medallists:
🥇 Leander Paes / Gaurav Natekar — Men’s Doubles
🥇 Leander Paes, Gaurav Natekar, Zeeshan Ali & Asif Ismail — Men’s Team
🥉 Leander Paes — Men’s Singles
From Hiroshima to Aichi-Nagoya
Thirty-two years after Hiroshima, the Asian Games return to Japan.
The Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games will be held from September 19 to October 4, giving a new generation of Indian tennis players an opportunity to add another chapter to a medal journey that began with a bronze in Bangkok in 1966 and reached its first golden milestone in Hiroshima in 1994.