All England Badminton Highlights: Jolly-Gopichand BEAT Li-Liu – India’s Women’s Doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand qualified for their second successive semifinal in All England Championships. The unseeded duo defeated China’s Li Wenmei and Liu Xuanxuan 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 in the quarterfinals on Friday, 17th March 2023. The Indian pair, who are the only remaining players from the country will next face either eight seeded Indonesian pair Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Ramadhanti or South Korea’s Baek Ha-Na and Lee So-hee in the semifinals. Follow All England Badminton Championships 2023 LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN
All England Badminton Highlights: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand reach second successive All England Badminton semifinal, defeat China’s Li-Liu pair in Women’s Doubles quarterfinal – Watch Highlights
Say hello to our first #YAE23 semi-finalists 👋
Jolly/Pullela beat Li/Liu 21-14 18-21 21-12! 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/D9hAM4bBlX
— 🏆 Yonex All England Badminton Championships 🏆 (@YonexAllEngland) March 17, 2023
While top players like PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and Men’s Doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have bowed out of the tournament, Treesa and Gayatri’s performance have given hopes of an elusive medal in the All England Badminton Championships. Gayatri Gopichand’s father Pullela Gopichand was the last Indian to win the title in the Super 1000 event in 2001.
Gayatri and Treesa were switched on from the word go against the Chinese pairing of Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuan. With Jolly Treesa manning the back-court with a mix of aggression and deception. Gayatri was brilliant at the net as the two shutters worked wonderfully as a pair.
On Friday, like their previous matches, the Indian pair got off to a positive start in the first game. They started with a 6-2 lead. Their opponents however got into the contest managing to level the scores 6-6. The Indians however didn’t concede the lead and managed to enter the break with the scores at 11-8.
All England Badminton Highlights: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand reach second successive All England Badminton semifinal, defeat China’s Li-Liu pair in Women’s Doubles quarterfinal – Watch HighlightsAfter the break, the Indian pair continued to attack and stayed in the lead. The Chinese pair committed errors as well on their part. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand finally closed out the set 21-14 after a net-error from the Chinese pair.
In the second game, playing against the drift, the Indians started off with 5-1 lead. With four successive points, Li-Liu pair fought trheir way back to level the scores. However the Indians soon raced o 10-6 lead and the Chinese pair with five straight points entered the interval with a solitary lead.
Trailing 11-12, Gayatri Gopichand brought out her attacking game to the fore. With three straight smashes, she helped take 14-12 lead. But they couldn’t capitalise on the lead and allowed their opponents to comeback. The Chinese pair closed out the game 21-18.
The third game started off as a one-way contest with the Indians dominating with a 6-1 lead. They entered the interval with the scores at 11-4. They continued the momentum after the change of sides and sealed victory in three games.
All England Badminton Highlights: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand reach second successive All England Badminton semifinal, defeat China’s Li-Liu pair in Women’s Doubles quarterfinal – Watch Highlights