India entered the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok with a tennis history that had already produced five medals across four editions, including its first golds at Hiroshima in 1994.
Bangkok added four more.
This time, all four came in bronze. Mahesh Bhupathi won medals in men’s singles, men’s team and mixed doubles, while Srinath Prahlad won bronze in men’s singles and as part of the men’s team. Bhupathi’s mixed doubles partner was Nirupama Vaidyanathan.
It was another strong showing for Indian tennis, with medals spread across singles, team and mixed doubles.
Bangkok 1998
The 13th Asian Games were held in Bangkok, Thailand, from December 6 to 20, 1998. Tennis was played at the Muang Thong Thani Tennis Centre, with the competition running from December 8 to 18.
India’s men’s team consisted of Mahesh Bhupathi, Syed Fazaluddin, Nitin Kirtane and Srinath Prahlad. In the team competition, India reached the semifinal against Japan on December 11 but lost the tie and finished with the bronze medal.
Contemporary reporting from Bangkok recorded Prahlad losing to Japan’s Satoshi Iwabuchi after winning the first set 6–3. Bhupathi then lost to Hideki Kaneko, sending Japan into the final and India into the bronze-medal position.
South Korea eventually won the team gold, with Japan taking silver. India shared the bronze with Uzbekistan.
Mahesh Bhupathi: Three medals in Bangkok
The standout Indian player of the Games was Mahesh Bhupathi, who collected three bronze medals.
His first came in men’s singles, where he and Srinath Prahlad both reached the semifinals. South Korea’s Yoon Yong-il won the gold and Japan’s Satoshi Iwabuchi the silver, leaving the two Indians with bronze.
Bhupathi then added his second bronze as part of the Indian men’s team.
His third came in mixed doubles, where he partnered Nirupama Vaidyanathan. The Indian pair finished with bronze, behind Japan’s Satoshi Iwabuchi and Nana Miyagi, who won gold, and South Korea’s Kim Dong-hyun and Choi Ju-yeon, who took silver.
Bhupathi arrived in Bangkok as one of the leading doubles players in world tennis. In 1997, he had won the French Open mixed doubles title with Japan’s Rika Hiraki, becoming the first Indian player to win a Grand Slam title.
His partnership with Leander Paes was also flourishing. Bhupathi and Paes won six ATP doubles titles in 1998, before going on to become one of the most successful partnerships in Indian tennis.
Srinath Prahlad: Two bronze medals
Srinath Prahlad also left Bangkok with two medals.
Like Bhupathi, he reached the men’s singles semifinals, guaranteeing an Indian presence on the podium. Prahlad and Bhupathi ultimately shared the bronze positions behind Yoon Yong-il and Satoshi Iwabuchi.
Prahlad’s second medal came in the men’s team event.
His semifinal against Japan’s Satoshi Iwabuchi was closely contested. Prahlad won the opening set 6–3, but Iwabuchi recovered to win 3–6, 6–3, 6–2.
Prahlad had turned professional in the 1990s and went on to represent India in Davis Cup.
Nitin Kirtane and Syed Fazaluddin: Part of the team
The other two members of India’s bronze-medal-winning men’s team were Nitin Kirtane and Syed Fazaluddin.
Kirtane was an accomplished Indian player who had won the 1996 National Championship and represented India in Davis Cup. He was also a member of the Indian side that won the Bangkok Asian Games team bronze.
Fazaluddin, meanwhile, was making his professional debut around this period. He represented India in Davis Cup from 1998 to 2001 and later won the Indian National Grass Court Championship in 2000.
Their places on the team are important because the 1998 bronze was not an individual achievement alone — it belonged to the entire four-player squad.
Nirupama Vaidyanathan: A breakthrough year
For Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Bangkok came at the end of a remarkable year.
Earlier in 1998, she became the first Indian woman to win a singles main-draw match at a Grand Slam, defeating Italy’s Gloria Pizzichini at the Australian Open before reaching the second round.
Later that year, she partnered Bhupathi to win mixed doubles bronze at the Asian Games.
The medal added an Asian Games milestone to a year in which Vaidyanathan had already broken new ground for Indian women’s tennis.
Four medals, all bronze
Bangkok 1998 produced four Indian tennis medals:
🥉 Men’s Singles — Mahesh Bhupathi
🥉 Men’s Singles — Srinath Prahlad
🥉 Men’s Team — Mahesh Bhupathi, Syed Fazaluddin, Nitin Kirtane & Srinath Prahlad
🥉 Mixed Doubles — Mahesh Bhupathi / Nirupama Vaidyanathan
India therefore finished with four tennis medals at the Games, all bronze.
For Bhupathi, it was a three-medal Games. For Prahlad, it was a two-medal Games. And for Vaidyanathan, it was another important milestone in a breakthrough 1998 season.
After the gold-medal breakthrough at Hiroshima four years earlier, Indian tennis had now produced medals at five consecutive Asian Games editions, stretching back to the first bronze in Bangkok in 1966.
Asian Games Fact File
Edition: 13th Asian Games
Host: Bangkok, Thailand
Games: December 6–20, 1998
Tennis venue: Muang Thong Thani Tennis Centre
Tennis dates: December 8–18
Indian tennis medals: 4 — all bronze
Medallists:
🥉 Mahesh Bhupathi — Men’s Singles
🥉 Srinath Prahlad — Men’s Singles
🥉 Mahesh Bhupathi, Syed Fazaluddin, Nitin Kirtane & Srinath Prahlad — Men’s Team
🥉 Mahesh Bhupathi / Nirupama Vaidyanathan — Mixed Doubles
The story moves to Busan
The next Asian Games would take Indian tennis to Busan in 2002, where a familiar pairing would return to the Asian Games stage — this time with a much bigger medal haul to come.