All England Open 2023: Gayatri Pullela-Treesa Jolly lose to lower-ranked Korean pair in semi-finals

The
Indian
world
number
17
pair
lost
to
the
Korean
world
number-20
duo
of
Baek
Na
Ha
and
Lee
So
Hee
by
10-21
10-21
in
the
women’s
doubles
contest
at
the
Utilita
arena
which
lasted
for
46
minutes.

Earlier
on
Friday
(March
17),
Gayatri
(20)
and
Treesa
(19)
underlined
their
growing
stature
in
world
badminton
as
they
reached
their
second
successive
women’s
doubles
semifinal
at
the
prestigious
tournament
in
Birmingham.

The
India
duo,
who
had
upset
two
experienced
pairs
to
reach
the
quarters,
once
again
began
with
an
aggressive
approach
and
opened
a
6-2
lead
before
their
opponents
found
their
rhythm.
But
that
hardly
deterred
the
Indians,
who
controlled
the
game
brilliantly
to
draw
first
blood.

It
looked
like
they
could
run
away
with
the
match
after
opening
a
10-6
lead
but
the
Koreans
won
five
straight
points
to
go
into
the
break
with
an
one-point
advantage
before
forcing
a
decider
with
a
late
flourish.

But
instead
of
getting
overwhelmed,
the
young
Indians
looked
more
determined
in
the
decider
with
Treesa
raining
smashes
and
Gayatri
dominating
the
net
to
race
to
8-1
lead.
They
then
kept
their
nerves
to
wrap
up
the
match
without
any
hiccups.

“We
learnt
a
lot
from
this
match.
The
difference
was
they
didn’t
leave
a
shuttle
and
we
did
panic
a
little
bit,”
Gayatri
said
after
the
match.

Treesa
said,
“When
we
played
against
them,
their
defence
was
good,
it
was
better
than
yesterday.
We
were
just
panicking
and
didn’t
play
well,
we
just
kept
attacking.”

Gayatri’s
father
Pullela
Gopichand,
the
chief
national
coach,
was
the
last
Indian
to
win
the
All
England
crown,
in
2001,
the
first
being
the
legendary
Prakash
Padukone
in
1980.

The
duo
had
a
big
opportunity
to
reach
the
finals
but
it
ended
in
anti-climax
as
they
played
into
the
hands
of
the
Koreans.

“I
was
nervous.
There
was
pressure,”
said
Gayatri.

Lee
–
who
is
a
seasoned
campaigner
with
two
world
championships
medals
with
former
partner
Shin
Seung-chan
–
showed
her
experience
and
prevailed
over
Indians.

In
fact,
Lee
and
Shin
had
faced
defeat
against
the
Indian
pair
in
the
last
edition
but
the
fresh
combination
of
Lee
and
Baek
have
been
relentless
this
week
with
wins
over
second
and
eighth
seeds
and
looked
in
supreme
touch
as
they
came
up
with
a
tactical
masterclass.

The
Koreans
turned
into
a
retrieving
machine
as
they
defended
seamlessly
and
extended
the
rallies
with
their
high
tosses
and
lifts
to
not
allow
the
Indians
to
play
their
short
flat
rally
game.

As
a
result,
Gayatri
and
Treesa
failed
to
make
a
good
start
like
they
did
earlier
this
week,
falling
behind
0-4
early
on.

Lee
and
Baek
frustrated
the
Indians
with
longer
rallies,
waiting
patiently
for
their
opponents
to
make
errors.
It
worked
perfectly
as
the
Koreans
grabbed
an
11-5
lead.

Briefly,
the
Indians
made
it
9-13
but
it
was
one-way
traffic
from
14-10,
with
the
Koreans
drawing
the
first
blood
with
seven
straight
points,
including
the
last
which
went
long
from
Gayatri.

The
Koreans
didn’t
kill
the
shots
at
the
nets
and
kept
playing
more
high
lifts,
with
the
Indians
sticking
with
their
smashes
from
the
backcourt.

Gayatri
and
Treesa
couldn’t
change
their
tactics
and
went
wide
and
long
too
many
times
as
Lee
and
Baek
zoomed
to
a
massive
11-2
lead
at
the
mid-game
interval
of
the
second
game.

Gayatri
had
her
moment
of
brilliance
when
she
mixed
body
shots
with
a
drop
to
grab
a
point
to
move
to
5-11
after
the
resumption,
but
such
instances
were
too
few.

The
Indians
managed
just
five
more
points
before
Treesa
hit
the
net
to
hand
10
match
points
to
the
Koreans,
who
sealed
their
place
in
the
final
after
another
long
rally.

Despite
the
loss,
it
was
a
good
week
for
the
young
Indians,
who
started
playing
together
only
in
2021
and
had
surprised
all
by
reaching
the
semifinals
in
the
last
edition
after
being
promoted
to
the
main
draw
from
the
reserve
list.

This
time,
Gayatri
and
Treesa
had
come
into
the
tournament
with
a
Commonwealth
Games
bronze
medal
and
wins
over
higher-ranked
pairs
such
as
world
No.
7
Tan
Pearly
and
Thinnah
Muralitharan
at
the
Badminton
Asia
Mixed
Team
Championship
in
February.

Gayatri
and
Treesa
accounted
for
some
big
scalps
such
as
the
seventh-seeded
Thai
pair
of
Jongkolphan
Kititharakul
and
Ravindra
Prajongjai
and
Japan’s
former
world
number
ones
Yuki
Fukushima
and
Sayaka
Hirota
in
the
early
rounds
this
week.

“We
played
against
some
good
players,
the
confidence
was
there.
So
we
are
looking
to
the
next
tournaments.
We
have
a
lot
more
to
learn.
We
will
come
back
stronger,”
Treesa
signed
off.

(With
PTI
inputs)