NEW DELHI: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand could finally afford to indulge in ice cream on Saturday evening. That was a well-earned celebratory treat for the doubles specialists from India after their significant medal run at the BWF World Championships here. On Sunday, they proudly wore the bronze medal around their necks and reflected on their memorable last few days. It's a run they hoped would silence their doubters.
"I think the silent result is everything that we can give rather than just telling people where you are, who you are. That is something that we cannot do. At least, what we can show is in our result. I think eventually we did that," Treesa said.
China's World No 1 pairing of Tan Ning and Liu Sheng Shu had eventually proven to be a bridge too far for the Indian duo, ending their hopes of reaching the final. Saturday might have proven to be an unsuccessful outing, but they felt they're not far away from beating them -- their head-to-head after Saturday's outcome is 7-1 in World No 1's favour.
"Whenever we played against them, we have always had deciding games (they have had four matches against the No 1 pair that stretched to four games). And that really kind of gives us that confidence, like playing with World No 1. It's just a matter of time and it's just about believing in ourselves that actually you can just beat those players," Treesa said.
Soon after beating Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shuxian of China in the quarterfinals, a win that confirmed a medal, they were visibly emotional. Having endured so much over the last couple of years or so, the win was cathartic for both. "We'll cherish this medal forever. We were just so happy after the quarterfinal match and even in the semis, we gave our 100 per cent and it just wasn't our day," Gayatri said.
After their medal-winning effort, Gayatri and Treesa had actually made a bright start against Tan and Liu in the semis, pocketing the opening game before going on to lose the semifinal contest in three games. Treesa felt they should tighten up their game in crucial moments of the game. "I think those kinds of players, if you lose two points, then they will actually take charge and they will actually continue the momentum. So, we just need to break those barriers. I feel like we gave away easy points. When it's a 15-all or 16-all, you cannot give those kinds of easy points (...). Yesterday (Saturday) also when we played, that's what happened. I think Tan started to do flick service, that really affected us in a different way."