Women’s doubles: Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 22-24 Treesa / Gayatri: Here’s how the second game unfolded. What a finish. By the time the JPN veterans found their footing, the Indians were able to hold on to their nerves.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 22-24 Treesa / Gayatri: THEY LOVE ALL ENGLAND! What a win for the Indian youngsters. They convert their sixth match point and return to the quarterfinal in Birmingham, defeating the former champions.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 22-23 Treesa / Gayatri: Five match points saved and now Indians’ have their 6th.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 21-21 Treesa / Gayatri: WHAT A RALLY!!! Gayatri was sensational on defence. But the JPN duo get the point. 61 shot-rally, longet of the match.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 20-21 Treesa / Gayatri: Good return from Treesa and fourth match point now.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 20-20 Treesa / Gayatri: Superb from Hirota and Fukushima! Three match points saved, relentless pressure.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 19-20 Treesa / Gayatri: Incredible. Couple of nervy shots at the net by Gayatri and two match points have come and gone.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 17-20 Treesa / Gayatri: WHAT A POINT! Treesa Jolly with a stunning crosscourt net shot to set up match points!

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 17-19 Treesa / Gayatri: Crosscourt block goes wide from Jolly.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 16-19 Treesa / Gayatri: Fukushima with good defensive work. Another point for the JPN duo. Jolly trying to loosen herself up. A lucky net cord. Ohh, this is getting nervy.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 14-19 Treesa / Gayatri: Some nerves there.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 12-19 Treesa / Gayatri: How good from Gayatri! Stunning placement on her backhand from the net. Clean winner.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 11-17 Treesa / Gayatri: Huge roar by Jolly as she plays a superb drop to ends a run of points.. Gayatri solid in the next rally to induce the error.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 11-15 Treesa / Gayatri: Right then, this is a brilliant run for the Indians. They have shown in recent weeks their problem of holding on to leads is not a thing anymore.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 10-15 Treesa / Gayatri: Rare back-to-back points for the Japanese duo, three in a row. Can’t afford to take the foot off the pedal, the Indians. Make that four in a row as HiroShima up the pace.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 6-15 Treesa / Gayatri: There was one “WOW” rally from the JPN duo but the Indians are in total control here. Even the slightly longer rallies are going the Indians’ way, Jolly’s relentless pressure proving too much to handle.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 4-11 Treesa / Gayatri: This is quite brilliant from the Indian youngsters.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21, 2-6 Treesa / Gayatri: A little bit of what I could her Boe tell the Indians was to make sure they keep the shuttle down as much as possible. If they smash, then cool, go for the change of pace otherwise keep attacking. He even had a smile on his face there! A great start to the second game too for the Indians.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 14-21 Treesa / Gayatri: Superb from the Indians to take the lead in this match. The Japanese duo have been a little shell-shocked here. But don’t rule out a come back yet.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 13-20 Treesa / Gayatri: Superb body smash from Jolly and it sets up 7 game points.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 12-19 Treesa / Gayatri: Another error, Hirota at the net. Super solid from the Indians.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 12-18 Treesa / Gayatri: Can’t afford to give an inch to the JPN duo. More than capable of fighting back here. But they have made a few too many errors for their own good. The Indians get a serve back on one of those. Some miscommunication earlier too. Jolly with a superb drop and the lead is in sight.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 9-15 Treesa / Gayatri: couldn’t hear what Boe told the Indian youngsters but his voice has been a near present on the broadcast so far. Constantly talking to his wards. IT’s been a fine start, 14-9 in the opening for the Indians. Make it 15-9 on a service error from Hirota.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 7-11 Treesa / Gayatri: Early signs but just get the feeling even the celebrations are a bit restrained by Treesa Jolly... they will need to save all the energy they have to outlast the Japanese duo. Good little run for the Indians there, winning four in a row to head into the interval with a good advantage.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 4-6 Treesa / Gayatri: The Indians’ turn to win a long rally. That will give them confidence.

WD R16, Fukushima / Hirota 4-5 Treesa / Gayatri: There we go, the Japanese pair are finding their feet. The rallies are getting longer.

WD R16, Treesa / Gayatri 5-2 Fukushima / Hirota: A good start for the Indian youngsters against the former champions. Fukushima and Hirota are one of the defensive beasts in this category, the Indians can’t afford to be rushed.

Women’s doubles R16, Treesa Jolly / Gayatri Gopichand vs Yuki Fukushima / Sayaka Hirota: It’s the Indian youngsters versus the former world No 1. One of the best pairs in recent times, Hirota and Fukushima have slid to NO 9 in the world rankings but make no mistake of the magnitude of test awaiting the Indians. First meeting.

From our preview: 

“The consistency pre-match stood out for them during that week in Dubai,” doubles coach SR Arun Vishnu told Scroll.

“First to beat Thinaah/Tan, then to defeat Hong Kong and China pairs also. Before the All England last year, what training we were doing, we started that training again. You could say we went back to basics.”

“We were focussing more on their movement, not their strokes. Just move fast to get the shuttle and get back to position. Both of them are good at strokemaking, we just had to make them move fast. Whatever shot they play, it’s fine but reach early. They have the freedom with the shots. They can pick whatever, that is something we worked out. And then recover fast after matches,” he added in reference to his tweet during Dubai about tweaks suggested by Pullela Gopichand.

First up, women’s doubles. Treesa Jolly / Gayatri Gopichand vs Yuki Fukushima / Sayaka Hirota.

Hello all and welcome to our badminton live coverage. It’s a big day at one of the biggest events of the year. We will be tracking India’s round of 16 matches at the All England Open, one of badminton’s most prestigious events.

The opening round was a mixed bag for the Indian shuttlers in Birmingham. On Tuesday, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen won their matches, with the latter pulling off an impressive win against fellow former finalist Chou Tien Chen. The headline on Wednesday was Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly’s brilliant win to oust the seventh seeds in women’s doubles. Srikanth Kidambi and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty defeated their compatriots in contrasting styles.

But there was disappointment in women’s singles as PV Sindhu’s comeback continued to remain rather sluggish, she struggled for rhythm and suffered a third straight first-round defeat on the World Tour.

India’s round of 16 matches:

 Treesa Jolly / Gayatri Gopichand vs Yuki Fukushima / Sayaka Hirota

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty vs Liang Wei Keng / Wang Chang

Lakshya Sen vs Anders Antonsen

HS Prannoy vs Anthony Sinisuka Ginting  

Kidambi Srikanth vs Kodai Naraoka 

Screenshots in the blog via BWF / Viacom 18 / Tournament Software