The Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi on Saturday roared in joy when India’s women's doubles (WD) duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand won the first game of the semifinal match against the World No.1 pair from China—Tan Ning and Liu Sheng Shu.
The first game was an absolute neck-and-neck contest and it went on till 18-18. It was at this point in the game that Treesa’s smash quickly shifted the momentum towards India’s side. Winning the first game in the set of three instilled hope and joy in the Indian fans. This was evident in the stadium’s roaring chants from the gallery.
Little did fans across India know what was coming up in the next two games of the match.
The start of the second game showed glimpses of a tight competition, until the Chinese pair took the game at the end, winning with a comfortable 21-13, effectively leading the match to its third and tie-breaker game.
The Chinese pair showed their most dominant performance in this decider game, which might also have been the most heart-wrenching one for Indian fans, as the World No.1 pair won it comfortably by 21-8. Treesa’s smashes and Gayatri’s tactical placements kept on making opportunities for points all throughout the match, but fell short in the final game.
Journey to India’s first WD medal in 15 years
Though they lost, the Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand duo became India’s first women's doubles pair in 15 years to win a medal at the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) World Championships.
“I think the next time we come, it's about changing the colour of the medal,” Treesa Jolly said to the media after the match having won the World Championships bronze medal.
The journey to the semifinal, given their World No.39 rank, was no less than a fantasy story of underdogs who went on to smash their way past many of the world’s top-ranked doubles players.
On August 17, the Treesa-Gayatri duo played their first match—the Round of 64—at the BWF World Championships. They won straight games in the most dominating manner with 21-9, 21-13 against Spain's Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez.
The very next day, in Round of 32, the Indians defeated the World No.16 from USA—Lauren Lam and Allison Quynh Lee—in yet another dominant straight games for 21-15, 21-12.
August 20 was the day when the badminton world took notice of the Treesa-Gayatri duo, as they defeated the popular Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi duo from Japan. What took everyone by surprise is the way in which the Indians won the match.
A World No.39 defeating the World No.7 is not something fans get to see everyday. In this match as well, the Treesa-Gayatri duo won two straight games with 21-16, 21-12.
In the quarterfinals on August 21, the duo took the badminton world by an even bigger storm, showing their class against the World No.4—Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian—from China. Though the duo lost their first game 16-21, they managed to bounce back effectively to win the battle in the next two games with 21-15, 21-13.
The wait begins for the updated BWF world rankings for women's doubles, because the commanding performances from the Indian pair are bound to be reflected. The updated rankings are expected to come out after the finals of the BWF World Championships on Sunday.
