From rank outsiders to giant-killers, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand savour dream run at All England

Treesa Jolly and P Gayatri Gopichand were sure they would not qualify for the All England Open Badminton Championships. Ranked 46th in the world, they were out of the reckoning for the draw of 32.

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But then came five withdrawals, due to various reasons. Treesa-Gayatri and Meghana Jakkampudi-Poorvisha S Ram were two extremely lucky pairs who got promoted from the reserve list to play in the world’s oldest and most prestigious badminton tournament.

Meghana and Poorvisha’s luck lasted only 22 minutes into the $1 million event when they were soundly beaten 5-21, 3-21 by Thai combine Supissara Paewsampran and Puttita Supajirakul. But Treesa and Gayatri had other plans.

The teenaged duo immediately hogged the limelight at Arena Birmingham, edging past reigning India Open champions and Thai world No 35 Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard 17-21, 22-20, 21-14 in an hour and seven minutes in Round 1.

In the second round, the Indian girls were being pushed towards the exit when down a game against reigning Olympic champions Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu. But a sudden injury to Rahayu in the middle of the second game forced the Indonesian sixth seeds to retire from the Super 1000 event.

The Indian duo suddenly found themselves in the quarter-finals of their first major event. The girls were once again on the verge of exit when they were two matchpoints down against South Korean world No 2 and 2021 World Championship silver medallists Lee Sohee, a former All England champion, and Shin Seungchan.

Not intimidated and with nothing to lose at that stage against the second seeds, the Indian girls took a fearless, attacking approach to come out firing on all cylinders to not just save the two matchpoints—which swung the momentum in their favour—but eventually claim the contest and stun the Koreans 14-21, 22-20, 21-15 in an hour and seven minutes.

“It’s unreal,” said Gayatri. “We just gave it our best. In the second game when we were down 18-20, we just thought we had to fight, just one point at a time.”

Though their dream run finally ended with a 17-21, 16-21 semi-final loss to Chinese pair Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu, it wasn’t before Treesa, 18, and Gayatri, 19, created one of the stories of the tournament, 21 years after Gayatri’s father Pullela Gopichand—now India’s chief coach—wrote his story with his glorious run to the All England title at the same venue in Birmingham.

“I didn’t think we’d get an entry to the event. The moment we got the entry we were happy that we could play with the world’s top players and I was very excited. I’m just so grateful,” added Gayatri.

Joining hands

After trying their hand in singles, Treesa, who belongs to the small hill town of Cherupuzha in Kerala, and Gayatri, who has badminton in her blood, joined hands to try out a new partnership in doubles last year.

The two divided the labour—Gayatri took to the forecourt, aiming to use her nimble hands for deft touches at the net while the stronger Treesa decided to hit booming smashes from the back.

When the theory was brought into practice, the plan seemed to work well. The pair reached the final of the first tournament they played together—the Polish Open in Zakopane in September 2021. They clinched the India International Challenge in Bengaluru in October and finished the year with yet another final performance at the Welsh International in Cardiff in December.

Following strong performances in lower-tier events, the two qualified for the India Open in New Delhi in January where they lost in the second round. But Treesa and Gayatri zoomed into the final of the Syed Modi India International in Lucknow—a Super 300 tournament—before clinching the Odisha Open title in Cuttack.

From being ranked 433rd at the end of September 2021, Treesa and Gayatri have now risen to world No 46, also becoming the first Indian pair to reach the semi-finals of the All England Open, once considered the unofficial world championships.

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