Indian badminton players Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly have advanced to the second round of the Australian Open 2023 women’s doubles competition, which took place at the State Sports Centre in Sydney on Tuesday.
Gopichand and Jolly, currently ranked17th in the badminton rankings for women’s doubles, secured a victory against the Canadian pair of Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu, who are ranked 29th in the world. The Indian duo won the match with scores of 21-16 and 21-17, progressing to the round of 16 in the BWF Super 500 tournament.
Next, Gopichand and Jolly will face a stronger challenge from Japan’s Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, who currently hold the fourth place in the world rankings.
In their past achievements, Gopichand and Jolly won the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year. They also reached the semi-finals of the All-England Open in March. However, they have yet to reach the quarter-finals in the BWF Tour since the qualification period for the Paris 2024 Olympics began on May 1.
The results from the Australian Open will contribute to the players’ qualifying rankings for the upcoming Paris Games.
Unfortunately, world championships silver medallist Ashwini Ponnappa and her partner Tanisha Crasto were eliminated from the women’s doubles event after losing to the Indonesian pair of Febriana Kusuma and Aallania Pratiwi, who are ranked 18th in the world. The match ended with scores of 11-21, 21-14, and 17-21.
Earlier in the day, former partner of Ponnappa, N Sikki Reddy, who teamed up with Arathi Sara Sunil, also suffered a defeat in their opening round match against Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Zharka and Mariia Stoliarenko. The match was closely contested, ending with scores of 19-21, 21-15, and 19-21.
On Wednesday, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen will also participate in the BWF Super 500 tournament. The Australian Open 2023 is set to conclude on Sunday.
