‘Healed by time, fueled by the wait’: How Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand ended India’s 15-year medal wait while keeping another streak alive | badminton news

NEW DELHI: On July 23, Trees a Jolly posted an old photo of herself along with her teammate Gayatri Pullela Gopichand on Instagram. In the photo, an excited and animated Jolly had her fist clenched and the caption read: “Healed by time, fueled by waiting.”On April 1, in a freak accident, Jolly, 23, landed on the foot of her women’s doubles teammate Gayatri during a training session. The Kannur-born shuttler sank after rolling and twisting her ankle. An MRI confirmed two ligament tears and two high-grade muscle tears.The runner was recommended complete bed rest for seven weeks, followed by two months of rehabilitation. In total, she was scheduled to be out of badminton for three months, which would rule her out of the Asian Badminton Championships, among other tournaments.Before hitting the court again at the Indonesia Open in June, after two months of inactivity, he celebrated his 23rd birthday and visited the Disney Adventure park in California. When he returned to the tour, the duo lost in straight matches in the first round in Jakarta.With the treacherous road back confirmed, the duo, along with their coaches, decided to play the Philippine International Challenge and sailed through the field to the title.

India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand celebrate their defeat against China’s Zhang Shuxian and Jia Yifan in the women’s doubles quarter-final match at the BWF World Championships at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Friday. (ANI Photo)

The big shot came two weeks later: the BWF World Championships in New Delhi. On Friday, they secured India at least a bronze medal by advancing to the semi-finals after a 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 comeback against Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian.In the process, they became the first Indian women’s doubles medalists at the World Championships since Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta in 2011. It also extended India’s streak of winning a World Cup medal to a 12th consecutive edition.

“I think just being calm and patient and being in the present moment, that’s actually what we need to do to score points against them. That kind of mentality was there. I think it really worked,” Gayatri said later.That memo did not reach Treesa Jolly.The World No. 39 jumped around the court, destroyed everything that came her way and was a ball of energy throughout the 70 minutes of the contest. When the Indians first took a lead at 11-10 in the second set and kept that momentum going, scoring six of the final seven points, the crowd responded with the same level of euphoria.

Chants of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, “C’mon Gayatri” and “Let’s go India” echoed around the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made history as the first Indian women’s doubles pair to win a medal at the Badminton World Championships since 2011.

In the third set, the Indians got off on the wrong foot, trailing 1-4, before reeling off eight straight points and never looking back. That lead grew to eight points at 14-6 and then became even bigger at 18-9 as errors from the Chinese rackets continued to flow while the Indians showed months of hard work on the court.Jolly and Gopichand took their time crossing the finish line, but when they did, they couldn’t hide their emotions. Jolly fell to the ground face up. Meanwhile, Gayatri took a quieter route and covered her face with her hands. Moments later, they hugged and hugged coaches Pullela Gopichand and B Sumeeth Reddy. Jolly, still full of energy, walked towards a rowdy Delhi crowd and sent a commemorative shuttle into the stands for one lucky fan.As the duo headed towards their media duties, the magnitude of the achievement was not lost on them. They cried one after another and needed to take a break before continuing with their task of speaking to journalists.

India’s Treesa Jolly, front right, and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela, left, celebrate with the latter’s father and coach Pullela Gopichand after winning a women’s doubles quarter-final badminton match against China’s unseen Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian at the BWF World Championships at the IGI Stadium in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)

Reddy, for his part, highlighted that it takes some time for a sportsman to get used to a milestone.“When emotions drop, there are no words that can normalize things. They are very emotional and probably take a day to digest.

They both have their own luggage. Starting with Gayatri, obviously being Mr. Gopi’s daughter. It’s a lot of baggage and everyone would say: silver spoon and all that. But I think it is a very big baggage. With this, she would be relieved to also be a World Championship medalist,” the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medalist explained.“Treesa was also very hungry from the beginning of his career. He wanted to do something big, prove his point that he doesn’t play tournaments just to compete.

She always wanted to be, you know, the star of Indian badminton. “I think this is a great achievement for your kitty too,” he continued.

New Delhi, August 21 (ANI): India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in action against China’s Zhang Shuxian and Jia Yifan in the BWF World Championship women’s doubles quarter-final match at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Friday. (ANI Photo/Rahul Singh)

Later that night, with the much-lauded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowing out, the home hopes now rest squarely on the shoulders of two 23-year-olds. Next up for them are top favorites Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China, with the Indians refusing to be impressed by the occasion or the opponents.“We don’t want to think too much. We don’t want to think too much about the result. We just want to get on the court first. And then I think we’re playing well. And I think we just want to keep doing that. And see what happens,” Gayatri said.