Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand enter quarters, other Indians lose at 2023 All England Badminton Championships
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand won an incredible match to advance to the quarterfinals of the All England Championships in Birmingham, but Lakshya Sen lost in the men's singles category. The Indian team defeated Sayaka Hirota and Yuki Fukushima, the former world No. 1 pair, 21-14, 24-22.
After recovering from an injury, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy teamed up with Chirag Shetty, but despite their valiant efforts, they were defeated by China's Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, ranked No. 10 in the world, 21-10, 17-21, and 19-21. Treesa and Gayatri are in good shape after defeating Tan Pearly and Thinnah Muralitharan, ranked No. 7 in the globe, at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship in February.
The seventh-seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kitiiharakul and Rawinda Prajongai were defeated in the opening round by the Indian team. Sen and Antonsen participated in some excellent rallies in the men's singles match, with the latter taking an early 8-4 lead and then securing a three-point edge at the break.
Sen, on the other hand, quickly picked up the pace and levelled the match at 11-11 after winning a rally that lasted 52 shots. Nevertheless, the Indian couldn't maintain the momentum as Antonsen surged ahead to 19-13 after launching a winner on his opponent's forehand to win yet another thrilling battle.
The two previous top-10 players battled it out for personal glory, but Sen and Antonsen made a few mistakes that prevented them. Sen improved his play after switching sides and eventually built a 9-4 lead before expanding it to 11-5 at the halfway point of the match. Then, at 10-11, Antonsen staged a comeback to pull within one point of the Indian.
Sen then lost his bearings as Antonsen began setting the terms to turn the match around at 14-13 after the Indian pushed a shot into the net. Sen made a couple mistakes as the Dane earned five match points and won on the first opportunity.
Sen will lose a lot of ranking points as a result of his second-round exit and will drop farther down the BWF rankings. The former world No. 6 dropped to the 19th spot last Tuesday after losing in the first round of the German Open.