of India Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made a spectacular comeback in the quarterfinals of his women’s doubles Singapore Badminton Open 2024 to stun Republic of Korea Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong on Friday.
Treesa-Gayatri, ranked 30th in the badminton world, came back from a game down to beat 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong 21-18, 19-21, 22-24 in 79 minutes.
The spectacular victory over the current world number 6 of the pair saw the Indian badminton players advance to their maiden semi-finals of a BWF Super 750 tournament.
Treesa and Gayatri will face either eighth seeds Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia or fourth seeds Nami Matsuyama-Chihara Sida of Japan in their top four clash on Saturday.
The competition started with the two couples going toe to toe. Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee led 15-14 at one point but rallied to take the first game.
Treesa-Gayatri started the second game positively and led 7-3 at one point. However, their Korean opponents managed to claw back and regained a significant lead of 18-12.
Despite looking on the brink of elimination, the Indian pair managed to upset the sixth-ranked Korean duo by taking five consecutive points to make it 18-17. Treesa-Gayatri kept their cool to secure the second game 21-19 and force a decider.
The third game played out similarly to the first where neither pair could escape the other early. Treesa-Gayatri managed to take a crucial 18-15 lead, but Kim-Kong restored the tie at 19-19 before they both leveled at 21-21.
With the score tied at 22-22, the Indian shuttlers dug deep and secured two straight points to pull off a stunning comeback win and move into the Singapore Open semi-finals.
The Indian duo had earlier beaten All England champions Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee 21-9, 14-21, 21-15 in the second round.
India’s top singles players PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy were ousted from the Singapore Open in the second round on Thursday. Men’s doubles world No. 1 Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy bowed out in the first round.
Treesa and Gayatri are the only Indian badminton players still alive in the Singapore Open.