Sydney: Indian duo of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly advanced to the second round of the Australian Open 2023 women’s doubles event at the State Sports Centre in Sydney, on Tuesday.
The Indian duo of Jolly and Gopichand defeated the world No. 29 Canadian pair of Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu 21-16, 21-17 in the round of 32 of the BWF Super 500 tournament.
In the round of 16, the star shuttlers will face tougher opponents in Japan’s Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, who are ranked fourth in the world.
At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Gopichand and Jolly took home the bronze medal. In March, they advanced to the semifinals of the All-England Open. However, since the Olympic qualifying period for Paris 2024 began on May 1, they have yet to get to the BWF Tour quarterfinals.
Ashwini Ponnappa, who won the silver medal at the world championships, and Tanisha Crasto were eliminated after losing their women's doubles opening to Indonesia's Febriana Kusuma and Aallania Pratiwi, ranked No. 18, 11-21, 21-14, and 17-21.
Earlier in the day, N Sikki Reddy, who teamed up with Arathi Sara Sunil lost their opening round match against Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Zharka and Mariia Stoliarenko 19-21, 21-15, 19-21.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen will be in action at the BWF Super 500 tournament from Wednesday. The Australian Open 2023 will conclude on Sunday. (ANI)
