Promising Indian Duo On the Move
There was no portent. Until it happened, there was little indication that Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela would cause any impact on the HSBC BWF World Tour so early in their career. But over the first…
· DEV SUKUMAR
There was no portent. Until it happened, there was little indication that Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela would cause any impact on the HSBC BWF World Tour so early in their career. But over the first quarter of this season, the teenaged women’s doubles duo did enough to suggest that they could be the biggest finds for India in a discipline in which the country has had little success.
At the end of last year, Jolly and Pullela were ranked outside the top 100 – at No.115. There were some encouraging results at lower-tier events – like the title win at the India International Challenge 2021 or runner-up finishes at the Polish International 2021 and the Welsh International 2021 – but a transition to the demands of elite badminton appeared some distance away.
Yet, what followed in 2022 was quite remarkable. After withdrawing from the India Open due to a positive Covid test, Jolly and Pullela made the final of the Syed Modi International (Super 300), won the Odisha Open (Super 100), and after a second round loss at the German Open, caused the sensation of the All England as they upset second seeds Lee Sohee and Shin Seungchan to make the semifinals.