The experienced pair of SD Prajwal Dev and Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha won Karnataka the first gold medal in tennis at the 38^th National Games in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on Monday.

Prajwal and Poonacha pair, the top seeds in men’s doubles, outclassed Services’ (Services Sports Control Board) Ishaque Iqbal and Faisal Qamar combine 6-3, 6-1 in double quick time in the gold medal match.

Karnataka also picked up two bronze medals on the day in singles. Both Prajwal and Amodini V Naik crashed out in the semis in the men's and women's sections respectively. While Prajwal went down fighting to Iqbal 7-5, 4-6, 1-6, Amodini retired after losing the first set 0-6 to second-seeded Vaishanavi Adkar.

However, Prajwal put the singles debacle behind him and returned to the court an hour-and-a-half later all pumped up. Playing together for the first time for Karnataka, – Poonacha shifted base from Telangana late last year – the duo was on top of their game from the get-go.

The top seeds broke the Services pair in the first game of the match to set the tone. Prajwal and Poonacha, winners of a Challenger doubles title two years ago, won the first set 6-3 and were all over the rivals in the second, winning it in a canter to seal the gold.

Prajwal and Adil Kalyanpur were silver medallists in the previous edition and champions in the 36^th National Games in Goa.

In the singles semis, Prajwal began by winning the close first set 7-5 against Iqbal. But the Services player then began to engage the Karnataka player in long rallies and force him into errors. The ploy worked and Iqbal won the next two sets to force Prajwal to settle for the bronze medal.

Later, Amodini, who stunned fourth seed Aditi Rawat in the quarters, failed to come up with the goods against Vaishnavi. She retired with an injury after losing the first set 6-0.

Results: Men: Singles (Semis): Ishaque Iqbal (SSCB) bt SD Prajwal Dev (Kar) 5-7, 4-6, 1-6; Dev Javia (Guj) bt Manish Sureshkumar (TN) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

Doubles (Gold medal match): SD Prajwal Dev/ Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (Kar) bt Ishaque Iqbal/ Faisal Qamar (SSCB) 6-3, 6-1.

Women: Singles (Semis): Vaishnavi Adkar (Mah) bt Amodini V Naik (Kar) 6-0, retd.; Vaidehi Chaudhari (Guj) bt Akanksha Nitture (Mah) 6-2, 6-0.