Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand sign off at All England Championship semis

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichands sensational run came to an end as the Indian pair signed off with a second successive semifinal finish at the All England Championships here on SaturdayThe two young shuttlers found the going tough against Korean world number 20 duo of Baek Na Ha and Lee So Hee losing 1021 1021 in a 46minute womens doubles contest at the Utilita arenaWe learnt a lot from this match The difference was they didnt leave a shuttle and we did panic a little bit Gayatri said after the matchTreesa added When we played against them their defence was good it was better than yesterday We were just panicking and didnt play well we just kept attackingGayatris father Pullela Gopichand the chief national coach was the last Indian to win the All England crown in 2001 the first being the legendary Prakash Padukone in 1980Gayatri 20 and Treesa 19 had a big opportunity to reach the finals but it ended in anticlimax as they played into the hands of the KoreansI was nervous There was pressure said GayatriAlso Read After bronze in Dubai Vimal Kumar hopeful of India winning Sudirman CupThe world number 17 pair was pitted against Baek and Lee the latter being an experienced player with two world championships medals with former partner Shin SeungchanIn fact Lee and Shin had faced defeat against the Indian pair in the last edition but the fresh combination of Lee and Baek have been relentless this week with wins over second and eighth seeds and looked in supreme touch as they came up with a tactical masterclassThe Koreans turned into a retrieving machine as they defended seamlessly and extended the rallies with their high tosses and lifts to not allow the Indians to play their short flat rally gameAs a result Gayatri and Treesa failed to make a good start like they did earlier this week falling behind 04 early onLee and Baek frustrated the Indians with longer rallies waiting patiently for their opponents to make errors It worked perfectly as the Koreans grabbed a 115 leadBriefly the Indians made it 913 but it was a oneway traffic from 1410 with the Koreans drawing the first blood with seven straight points including the last which went long from GayatriThe Koreans didnt kill the shots at the nets and kept playing more high lifts with the Indians sticking with their smashes from the back courtGayatri and Treesa couldnt change their tactics and went wide and long too many times as Lee and Baek zoomed to a massive 112 lead at the midgame interval of the second gameGayatri had her moment of brilliance when she mixed body shots with a drop to grab a point to move to 511 after resumption but such instances were too fewThe Indians managed just five more points before Treesa hit the net to hand 10 match points to the Koreans who sealed their place in the final after another long rallyDespite the loss it was a good week for the young Indians who started playing together only in 2021 and had surprised all by reaching the semifinals in the last edition after being promoted to the main draw from the reserve listThis time Gayatri and Treesa had come into the tournament with a Commonwealth Games bronze medal and wins over higherranked pairs such as world No 7 Tan Pearly and Thinnah Muralitharan at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship in FebruaryGayatri and Treesa accounted for some big scalps such as the seventh seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Ravindra Prajongjai and Japans former world number ones Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the early rounds this weekWe 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 offThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever