Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand enter All England Open semis again
In what can be called a historic moment in Indian badminton, the women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand entered the semifinals of the All England Open 2023, repeating their feat from last year. The world no.17 team beat Chinese pair of Li Wen Mei/Liu Xuan Xuan 21-14, 18-21, 21-12.
The only Indians alive in the competition now, Treesa and Gayatri will now face South Korea'sĀ Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee next. They have notched up some great wins this year which would do their confidence a world of good. At the start of the tournament, they had stunned seventh-seeded Thais Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Ravindra Prajongjai and then, former world No. 1 pair from Japan Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota.
In fact, the Chinese girls, who they met in the quarters, have been ranked as high as world no.9 in the world. In the match, Gayatri was rock solid at the net, while Treesa was relentless with her attacking shots at the backcourt. The first game saw them command a lead of 6-2. Later at the mid-game interval, they took a lead of 11-8.Ā
From there on the Indian team did not look back and secured the first game with utmost ease. The second game did not go as planned as the Indians squandered away a lead of 5-1. Come the third, they sealed the match and progressed to the semis.Ā