Badminton Great’s Daughter, Gayatri Gopichand, And Treesa Jolly Lead India To Historic Medal

NEW DELHI – Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, daughter of Indian badminton great and coach Pullela Gopichand, have secured a historic World Championships medal in women’s doubles, and their coach Sumeeth Reddy says the Indian pair are determined to go further.

The pair fought back from a game down to defeat fourth-seeded Chinese duo Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 in the quarterfinals at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on August 21.

The victory assured India of its first women’s doubles medal at the BWF World Championships since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won bronze in 2011.

Reddy said preparations for the home World Championships began about 45 to 50 days ago, with Pullela Gopichand, chief coach at the Gopichand Badminton Academy, carefully planning the campaign.

“It started around 45-50 days before; obviously, this was a big stage, especially happening in India,” Reddy told reporters. “Since the first day, rather than just thinking about the World Championship, it was one day at a time.”

He credited Gopichand with planning the campaign well in advance and said the process had also been a learning experience for him.

Reddy said the emotional scenes after the quarterfinal victory reflected the pair’s determination to prove they were capable of more than simply participating in the tournament.

“Gayatri just came and was seeing Gopi sir. I could see they were very, very emotional, especially the hardship they had to go through,” he said. “They wanted to make a point to prove that they are not just here to participate but go further and try to win the tournament.”

Despite securing a medal, Reddy said the pair would not make major changes to their preparations for the semifinal.

“There is nothing special planning,” he said. “We will do the same thing that we have been doing yesterday or the day before, just think about what we need to do, what the opponents would be doing and just stick to that.”

He also urged the pair to ignore outside criticism of their partnership and focus on communicating with each other.

“Even the best pairing in the world would have some kind of criticism,” Reddy said. “The better thing to do is just think if something has gone right, just try to repeat that, and if something hasn’t gone right, just try to rectify and change it.”

Reddy also highlighted the mental strength the pair had shown while dealing with injuries and difficult periods in their careers.

With a medal now assured, he acknowledged that some pressure may have been lifted but stressed that the campaign was far from over.

“At least they are assured of something, but it’s not done yet,” he said. “They will go with full force tomorrow as well.” (IANS)