All England Championships: Treesa-Gayatri give no quarter

Birmingham, March 16

The Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand scripted a stunning win to progress to the quarterfinals but Lakshya Sen bowed out in the men’s singles competition of the All England Championships here today.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa and Gayatri continued their rise as they shocked former world No. 1 pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota 21-14 24-22 in a pulsating contest.

The world No. 17 Indian pair, which had reached the semifinals in the last edition, will next face Chinese combination of Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuan Xuan.

Sen, however, wouldn’t get to play another consecutive final as he went down 13-21 15-21 to Anders Antonsen in 52 minutes. It was a sweet revenge for the Danish who had gone down in straight games to the Indian in 2022.

Returning from an injury, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy paired up with his partner Chirag Shetty but their gallant fight ended with a 21-10 17-21 19-21 loss to China’s world No. 10 Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.

In more disappointment for India, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth also crashed out of the tournament. Prannoy lost 20-22 21-15 17-21 to Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, while Srikanth lost 17-21 15-21 to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka.