Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out of the All England badminton championships with a 10-21, 10-21 defeat to Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea in Birmingham on Saturday.
The all out attack of the Indians, which helped them win the quarterfinals, boomeranged in the women's doubles semifinals on Saturday as the Koreans ended their 11-match winning streak. Treesa-Gayatri won three matches in Dubai, five at the Nationals and three at the All England. It was Treesa-Gayatri's second successive elimination at this stage of All England.
The world No. 17 Indian duo was caught unawares by the rock solid defence of their lower ranked opponents (No. 20). Surprisingly, the Indians did not change their strategy after losing the first game.
The Koreans, who ousted second seeds in the second round, not only retrieved everything but also tossed the shuttle high and invited the Indians to hit hard. The Indians took the bait but when all their power-packed smashes were returned with ease, they faltered.
Baek and Lee opened up a 4-0 lead and made it 14-10. Then they scored seven straight points to wrap up the first game. They were mo re dominant in the second game as they led 11-2 at the break before winning the game.
The Indians could have slowed down the pace of the match because once they got a sizeable lead, the Korean girls collected quick points.
Coach Arun Vishnu admitted that the Korean defence made the difference. "The Koreans were too solid defensively," Vishnu said, adding that there was nothing wrong in the strategy. "We couldn't get our defence together today. Our girls will learn from this defeat and grow from here," Vishnu said.
