All England Open: Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly advance to semifinals

Birmingham [UK], March 17 (ANI): India’s Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly defeated China’s Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuanxuan 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 in the women’s doubles quarterfinals at the All England Open 2023 to make it to the semis in Birmingham on Friday.

The world No. 17 Indian pair had reached the semi-finals of the last edition of the All England Open as well but lost to China’s Shu Xian Zhang and Yu Zheng. On Friday, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly appeared to be in good form as they took the first game 21-14 with ease. The Indian badminton players stumbled in the middle of the match after gaining an early lead, allowing the Chinese pair to reduce their lead. The Indians, however, made a strong comeback and won the first game.

The two teams played shot-for-shot in the second game, but Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuanxuan gained the upper hand in the match’s critical final minutes to force a decider. Gopichand and Jolly came out strong and quickly built a 10-2 advantage in the decisive final game. From that point on, the young Indian duo moved to secure another spot in the semi-finals while the Chinese women were constantly playing catch-up.

Gopichand and Jolly will meet the winner of the contest between South Koreans Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee and Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in their last-four match. The only Indians still competing at the All England Open 2023 are Gopichand and Jolly after last year’s finalist Lakshya Sen lost to Anders Antonsen on Thursday. HS Prannoy lost to Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

Earlier, the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were ousted by Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China in the round of 16.
Indian badminton star and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu was knocked out in the first round while former world No. 1 Saina Nehwal had pulled out of the tournament on the opening day.