Australian Open 2023: Indian Duo Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly Advances to Round of 16

Sydney: Indian duo Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly made it to the second round of the Australian Open 2023 women’s doubles event in Sydney. They secured a victory against Canada’s Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu with a score of 21-16, 21-17 in the round of 32 at the BWF Super 500 tournament.

In the round of 16, Gopichand and Jolly will face tougher competition against Japan’s Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, who are ranked fourth in the world.

These Indian shuttlers have a history of success, winning a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and reaching the semifinals of the All-England Open earlier this year. However, they haven’t made it to the BWF Tour quarterfinals since the Olympic qualifying period for Paris 2024 began on May 1.

On a disappointing note, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto were eliminated from the women’s doubles opening, losing to Indonesia’s Febriana Kusuma and Aallania Pratiwi with scores of 11-21, 21-14, and 17-21.

Another Indian pair, N Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil, also faced defeat in their opening round match against Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Zharka and Mariia Stoliarenko, with a close scoreline of 19-21, 21-15, 19-21.

Upcoming matches at the BWF Super 500 tournament will feature two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen, starting from Wednesday. The Australian Open 2023 will conclude on Sunday.