New Delhi [India], August 21 (ANI): India's women's doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand registered a phenomenal comeback victory over China's Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian in the quarterfinals to storm into the semifinals of the ongoing BWF World Championships 2026 in New Delhi on Friday, assuring themselves of at least a bronze medal.
The Indian duo recovered from losing the opening game to register a 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 victory in a match that lasted over 70 minutes at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
Jia and Zhang started strongly and controlled the pace in the opening game, capitalising on errors from the Indian pair to take a 1-0 lead.
Treesa and Gayatri responded impressively in the second game, improving their defence and controlling the net exchanges to establish an early lead. They maintained their advantage to level the contest at 21-15.
The Indians carried their momentum into the decider, racing to a 10-5 lead before keeping the Chinese pair under pressure. They eventually closed out the game 21-13 to complete a memorable comeback.
With the win, Treesa and Gayatri became only the second Indian women's doubles pair to win a World Championships medal, following Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa's bronze in 2011.
Earlier, Treesa and Gayatri produced a clinical straight-game victory to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Championships on Thursday. They defeated Japan's seventh-seeded duo of Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 21-16, 21-12 in their Round of 16 encounter. Treesa and Gayatri set the tempo early in the opening game, asserting authority with sharp play. Despite disciplined defence from the Japanese pair, the Indians maintained a steady cushion, closing out the first game 21-16.
The second game saw the Indian duo widen the gap quickly. With momentum firmly on their side, they sealed the 21-12 win to book their place in the tournament's last eight. (ANI)
Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand stun 4th-seeded Chinese pair to reach BWF World C'ships semifinals
