Rising stars: India’s Gayatri Gopichand (left) and Treesa Jolly in action against Thailand’s Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn-Sukitta Suwachai.
KUALA LUMPUR: Shuttler Gayatri Gopichand is out to follow in the footsteps of her legendary father.
P. Gopichand is one of India’s most famous figures in badminton and is currently the chief coach of the national team.
During his playing days, the 51-year-old became only the second men’s singles player from India to capture the prestigious All-England when he triumphed in 2001 after Prakash Padukone’s feat in 1980.
Gayatri, who is still only 21, has already shown signs that she can emulate her father after progressing well in the women’s doubles with Treesa Jolly.
The pair caught the eye when they reached the semi-finals in the 2022 All-England and won bronze in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games that year.
Treesa-Gayatri also qualified for the World Tour Finals for the first time last month and rose to a career high No. 11 in the world rankings.
In the Tour Finals, the pair stunned Malaysia’s world No. 6 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and gave China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning a huge scare before losing in three close games in the group stage.
Gayatri credits her rise to her father’s influence and is hungry to continue her fine progress with Treesa, who is also 21.
“My father has been my role model when I was growing up,” said Gayatri.
“I started playing badminton because of him and my career is now going great. My journey with Treesa started pretty well and we want to continue doing well.”
Gayatri is aiming to break into the world’s top 10 with Treesa this year.
“We are grateful that we could qualify for the Tour Finals and we did quite well there,” said Gayatri.
“The matches we played gave us confidence and we are now definitely looking to get into the top 10. Our goal is to play good matches against the top pairs.”
Treesa-Gayatri got off to a good start to the year when they reached the second round of the Malaysian Open after brushing past Thailand’s Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn-Sukitta Suwachai 21-10, 21-10 at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
The youngsters will take on China’s Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian next for a place in the last eight.
