A year, especially an Olympic year, can be a long time in sport.
In March, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand missed qualifying for the Paris Olympics. In December, the women’s doubles pair are the only Indian badminton players to qualify for the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China, — where only the year’s top 8 compete. Soon after, the 21-year-olds lifted the Syed Modi International trophy at home for their first Super 300 title.
After a very challenging season, the end of 2024 is shaping up to be a good one for them. To be one of the top 8 pairs in the world in a discipline such as women’s doubles is no small achievement for an Indian pair. Their upcoming World Tour Finals debut on Wednesday has the youngsters both excited and nervous.
“I’m very grateful to qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals. I have always seen it on TV… now it’s happening as we are in that eight, I’m so happy,” Treesa tells ESPN. “I can’t believe that we qualified. It’s only the top eight in the world, the best performance throughout the year. So I’m really excited and also nervous at the same time, but looking forward to it,” adds Gayatri.
Consistent performance is the key for the World Tour finals. The qualification criteria accounts for the best results from 14 tournaments throughout the year. While the Indian pair may not have made a big impact on tour, they have played consistently, getting a bunch of good, top ten wins and staying fit to play 19 tournaments.
To be among the top 8 in the world is a huge morale boost. At 21, both Treesa and Gayatri are still young and had missed a chunk of 2023 season due to injury concerns, which also contributed to their Paris miss. From that lens, the 2024 season has been one of significant incremental growth.
“I think this year was a good year for us. I think we beaten the top players in the top 10 and it’s a confidence booster for us. When we play the top players and beat them, I believe we can be in that top ten or top five in the world. That confidence is always there when playing with those players and fighting with them,” says Treesa.
At the start of the year, while just returning to the tour full-fledged after an injury setback, the duo were instrumental in India winning the Badminton Asia Team Championship in February. In badminton team events, doubles is crucial to victory and India beat the likes of China, Japan and Thailand to win gold.
But early exits in the first half of the season meant they were out of the Race to Paris qualification in March. On their part, they took the Olympics heartbreak gamely and focused on the next thing with a little help from national coach Pullela Gopichand.
“It was definitely a little sad when we realised we’re not going to make it. But at the same time, we knew that this is not the first and last Olympics, there’s more coming. So, we were calm. And focusing on the next tournament instead of constantly dwelling about Olympics. There was a lot of, advice from dad [Gopichand] and our coaches. We were okay,” says Gayatri.
This kind of a positive attitude meant that best run of the year (other than the Syed Modi title) came soon after, at the Singapore Open 750 in May. They reached semifinals beating two higher-ranked South Korean pairs — a huge feat in women’s doubles badminton.
Perfectly timed racket change! ⏱️
Follow live action: https://t.co/TjoFnU5nd9@HSBC_Sport
#BWFWorldTour #SingaporeOpen2024 pic.twitter.com/mf6QeZSswb– BWF (@bwfmedia) May 31, 2024
“In the Singapore Masters, we played against two Koreans and they were really tough matches which we won. That gave me a lot of confidence to move on and to just break that last hurdle,” explains Gayatri.
Gayatri, who has grown up around badminton, is more philosophical when she talks about the newer challenges they face as they grow in experience, using sporting jargon like hurdles.
“Sometimes when we’re playing against the top best in the world we’re just stuck and no idea what to do to, how win the game to move forward. We’re trying to step that up, get the strategy right when we are confused. To break that little hurdle, I feel has been challenging. It’s gotten better this year.”
Strategy in women’s doubles often can be a crucial, unseen weapon. Women’s doubles is a defence-heavy discipline of badminton and requires elite fitness and stamina to prevail in the long, intense rallies. Treesa-Gayatri play a more creative game with plenty of attack and guile to counterattack the general defence, and have the weapons to unravel opponents’ game when thing click. But the base for it is often physicality in the long game.
Fitness though has been an issue, especially for Gayatri given her injury setback in 2023 and she says she is learning to manage her body’s needs amid the incessant grind of the BWF Tour.
“The whole year has been a little tricky, but it’s always going to be there. We’re just being prepared and even in the injuries, we’re trying to stay positive. We’re doing what we can do,” explains Gayatri. “My body is like that so it’s going to be a little challenging. But I’m working on strength, flexibility and all of those things which are important for me. I’m putting more focus on to the little things… on rehab and all of that instead of just trying to get back on court.”
For Treesa, the battle is more mental as she works towards emotional balance along with upscaling her skills. “I think need to be mentally stronger. Losing a match is not in our hand but what we do the next day is in our hand… just get up, go to the gym, do whatever the schedule is. Don’t just be sad if one thing didn’t go your way, do your best the next day. One day you will get what you need, work for that day I would say.”
These are impressive words from the two who are still finding their way to the top.
The overall improvement is there to see as they gear up for their 20th tournament of the year. The BWF World Tour finals won’t be easy, where the Indians are placed in a group with world no. 1 Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning, regular nemeses Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan and Matsuyama Nami-Shida Chiharu. But more than their performance in Hangzhou, it’s the experience and learning that will matter and they know it.
“It’s not going to be easy but I feel like we’re going to learn a lot at the tournament. I’m going there to have fun, give my 100% and get back and work again. That’s all I’m thinking about right now,” says Gayatri.
No matter how the next week goes, Treesa and Gayatri have done enough this season to make 2025 a year to look forward to
