DOHA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Indians Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi survived seven match points in a gripping Asiad tennis men's doubles final against Thai twins Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana to win the gold medal here on Wednesday.

    The Indian duo needed two hours and 44 minutes to beat the Ratiwatanas 5-7, 7-6, 6-3.

    The Ratiwatana brothers had the consolation of silver, while Ceil Mamiit and Fredrick Taino from the Philippines and Jun Woong Su and Kim Sun Young of South Korea won bronze medals.

    "I must say we have worked hard all week. We have done a lot of practice and you can see that we have come up with wins," said Paes after the match.

    "We must have saved six or seven match points in the second set. It just goes to show that we fought hard, and won by the skin of our teeth."

    Top seeds and defending champions Paes and Bhupathi started well and edged into a 2-0 lead in the first set, but the Thais settled and started to improve. With the score at 3-2 they broke the Indian serve and did it again at the end of the set to win 7-5.

    The second set lasted for more than one hour and the four players displayed brilliant doubles play with fast rallies, sharp volleys, beautiful passing shots and fierce returns. At 1-1, with Sonchat serving, Paes and Bhupathi had a chance to break the opponents' serve. After six deuce points, the Thai twins won the game and gained in confidence, with the Indians refusing to surrender.

    The Thai twins secured three match points in the second set, but some thunderous smashes and a subtle Paes volley brought the score to deuce. The Thais failed to claim three more match points after that, before Paes and Bhupathi eventually won the game and forced a tie break. The Indians survived another match point before winning 9-7 to take the match to a third set.

    The Indian duo had no problem clinching the third set at 6-3.