Welcome to the highlights of the women’s doubles match between India’s Treesa Jolly/ Gayatri Gopichand and South Korea’s Baek Ha Na/ Lee So Hee at the All England Open Championship 2023.
ALL ENGLAND OPEN HIGHLIGHTS
(READ SCORES AS IND-KOR)
SECOND GAME
10-21 10 matchpoints for Baek and Lee. And that will do it. Just 45 minutes on court is all the Korean pair needed to end the Indian challenge at the All England Open Badminton Championships.
8-18 A rare brainfade for Baek. She swings hard and the shuttle glides out. The match, though, is mostly decided and one or two mistakes at this moment won’t hurt the Koreans.
6-17 The Koreans are not taking the bait anymore. Treesa’s lifts are being met with harmless forehands and the occasional drop shot.
6-15 Another unsuccessful challenge from Treesa. Seems like Gayatri didn’t want to go for the HawkEye.
6-12 Treesa gets the better of her opponent with a fake. She goes cross-court and Baek fails to make it on time.
5-11 Three points on the trot since the interval. Do the Indians have a Plan B which has been put in motion?
4-11 The Koreans have made an error again. Whatever Boe has communicated on this occasion, seems to be working. A long rally, this, and Baek and Lee seemed frustrated by the time it ended.
3-11 The first point in what seemed like forever.
2-11The first half has been pretty comprehensive. It has been only 30 minutes and the Koreans are already running away with the match.
2-9 The errors are more frequent now. The defence is in absolute tatters. It is all a bit embarrassing now.
2-6 An Indian challenge! This is the first time the HawkEye is being used today. Unsuccessful. It was way out and the Koreans have the last laugh. Boe has a word with the pair again from the sidelines.
2-4 Treesa’s lift goes long and... OUT! The Koreans are being gifted freebies at the moment.
1-1 “ Chalo (Let’s go!),” screams Treesa as Gayatri’s flat but powerful returns comes into contact with the net before trickling over.
0-1 The Koreans open their account after Treesa commits and error and swings wide.
FIRST GAME
10-21 The Korean players strike first. It took them 19 minutes. The Indians will be playing catch-up. Coach Mathias Boe is asking for “simple blocks”. He is asking the pair to not get frustrated, trust their defence and keep things simple.
10-18 The signs are ominous. Baek and Lee are just three points away now from taking the first game. An official caution for Treesa who was running the clock down. Treesa, meanwhile, sends the shuttle floating beyond the baseline.
10-16 It took one loose shot from Gayatri for Baek to pounce at the opportunity. Point to the Koreans.
9-13 The Indians have looked a lot better post the break. Gayatri lunges forward to push the shuttle into the other half. Baek senses an opening and thrashes hard into Treesa’s body. An alert Treesa, however, gets it across.
8-13 Lee messes up the return. A misjudgement sees the shuttle clatter into the net.
6-13 Gayatri goes on the offensive. A delectable smash has the Koreans getting into each other’s way.
5-11 Going into the midgame break, the Korean pair look a lot more confident. Their defence has been incredible and Baek, especially, has managed to trouble the Indians with her powerful returns.
5-8 An incredible rally culminates into an Indian point. Initially, it was all about Baek and Treesa until Gayatri joined the party. A couple of “Ooh”s and “Aah”s ring across the venue.
3-7 The Indians take a moment to discuss something. Seconds later, Treesa rains down an unplayable smash down the left of Baek.
1-4 Luck favours the Koreans as Gayatri’s return comes into contact with the net. The Koreans are using the depth of the court to their advantage.
1-2 Lee forces Gayatri into an awkward position and the shuttle cock flies out.
1-0 Treesa and Gayatri claim the first point.
- The warmups are done and we’re good to go.
- Treesa and Gayatri are the first to enter the court. A cry of “C’mon India!” from the stands greets the pair. Baek and Lee follow. TThe Indian pair wins the coin flip and gets to choose the side.
PREVIEW
The Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand continued their impressive run, dishing out another superlative performance to advance to their second successive semifinals at the All England Championships on Friday.
The World No. 17 Indian pair looked solid in their defence and relentless in attack, claiming a 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 win over the newly-formed Chinese pair of Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuan Xuan in a 64-minute quarterfinals.
The only Indians in the fray, Gayatri and Treesa will face Korea’s Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee next.
Gayatri and Treesa had reached the semifinals in the last edition as well when they were handed a spot in the main draw at the last moment.
But this time, they entered the draw with a fair amount of experience, having claimed the Commonwealth Games bronze last year and notching up wins over higher-ranked pairs such as world No. 7 Tan Pearly and Thinnah Muralitharan at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship in February.
The Indian duo had shocked seventh-seeded Thais Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Ravindra Prajongjai and former World No. 1 pair from Japan Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the previous rounds.
In the quarterfinals, Gayatri, 20, and Treesa, 19, were up against Li, who has been World No 9 in the past, and Liu, a former World No 16.
-PTI
HEAD-TO-HEAD STATS
The two pairs have never played each other till date.
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH ALL ENGLAND - WOMEN’S DOUBLES SEMIFINALS LIVE?
The semifinal matches start from 3:30 PM IST onwards. The matches will be broadcasted on Sports 18 1 TV channel in India and the same would live streamed on the JioCinema app and BWF TV YouTube channel.
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