NEW DELHI: The roar inside the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Friday was deafening, a release of tension that had been building through what was an enthralling contest.
We lost the momentum. Despite the defeat, Jia, who won gold at the Paris Olympics with Chen, offered high praise for her conquerors. I still remember when we played India Open… if I could have been a little calmer and patient, we could have scored points and won that match.
The Indians did not burst out of the gates from the start. But modern doubles is a game of chess with the shuttle travelling at 300kph. “It was a bit tricky in the beginning, but we managed it. We took out some tricks. We just wanted our legs to move. They are not going to give easy points. We just wanted to be patient. “Their mindset and gameplan was better than ours. There was drift, which is why the shuttle was coming on quickly. The crowd was cheering for them… it was boosting the confidence of the Indians. “Treesa is very fierce. “In a few tournaments, I have messed up with so much greediness to get the points. So, I was just telling myself to be calm, it’s not finished yet.”
Up against a formidable pairing featuring legendary Olympic champion Jia, Treesa and Gayatri quickly found themselves overwhelmed, trailing 0-6 and 2-8 in the opening game. The shuttle was moving quickly through the arena with the Chinese pair dictating the early tempo and absorbing the Indians’ pressure to comfortably close out the first game 21-16. The world No.39 pair fundamentally shifted the board in the second game. They are No.4 in the world.
Because that’s the most important thing, just to be calm on court,.
“We changed our tactics,” Gayatri explained after the match. “During the second game when we were chasing, they had an advantage,” said Jia, a four-time world champion with former partner Chen Qingchen. Her attack is very strong,” said Jia, adding that Gayatri “is very sharp-minded”. “He always said to calm down and be in the present moment.
That really worked today,” said Treesa.
“We are into the semi-finals and we are on the podium. But it’s not finished yet. This is not the ending. We came here with a goal. We don’t want to think about the outcome too much. We just want to get on the court first. We are playing well, and we just want to keep doing that and see what happens.”
“Right now, we are just processing this one,” said Gayatri.
