Treesa-Gayatri sign off at semifinals stage

PTI

Birmingham, March 18

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand’s sensational run came to an end as the Indian pair signed off with a second successive semifinals finish at the All England Championships here today.

They found the going tough against the South Korean world No. 20 duo of Baek Na Ha and Lee So Hee, losing 10-21 10-21 in a 46-minute women’s doubles contest at the Utilita arena.

“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.

Treesa added: “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, 20, and Treesa, 19, had a big opportunity to reach the final but it ended in an anti-climax as they played into the hands of the Koreans.

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

The world No. 17 pair was pitted against Baek and Lee, the latter being an experienced player with two World Championships medals with former partner Shin Seung-chan.

In fact, Lee and Shin were defeated by the Indian pair in the last edition but the new combination of Lee and Baek have been relentless this week, notching wins over second and eighth seeds and looked in supreme touch as they dished out a tactical masterclass.

The Koreans retrieved most of what was thrown at them as they defended seamlessly and extended the rallies with their high tosses and lifts, not allowing the Indians to play their usual flat rally game.

Despite the loss, it was a good week for the Indians. They accounted for some big scalps such as the seventh-seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Ravindra Prajongjai and Japan’s former world No. 1s Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the earlier rounds.

“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.

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