Indian women’s doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand kept their BWF World Tour Finals semifinal hopes alive after beating Malaysian duo Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan 21-19, 21-19 in their Group A tie in Hangzhou on Thursday.
Treesa and Gayatri started on an aggressive note and surged to a 6-2 lead in the opening game before the Malaysians roared back and it went neck-and-neck after that.
But the Indians kept their composure in the final stages to pocket the first game.
The second game too was a close affair till the first five points before the Malaysians took a slender lead.
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It was again a tight battle till 19 points but the Indians once again held their nerves and pocketed two consecutive points to seal the match.
Treesa and Gayari are the only Indians to qualify for the season-ending tournament and faced defeat in their opening match of the group against World No.1 Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China.
After the win, the Indians are second in the group and they require a win against the Japanese pairing of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida on Friday to book a spot in the semifinal.
(With inputs from PTI)
