Image credits: BAI
India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand produced one of the biggest results of their careers at the Indira Gandhi Stadium. The unseeded pair fought back from a game down to defeat China’s fourth seeds Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 in the women’s doubles quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships 2026. The 69-minute victory sealed their place in the semi-finals and also guaranteed India at least a bronze medal. This also ends a 15-year wait for a medal in the event. The last time an Indian women’s doubles pair stood on the World Championships podium was in 2011, when Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa claimed bronze in London.
Treesa and Gayatri are ranked outside the top 30 and had never beaten this Chinese duo in three previous meetings. So winning this match is a huge achievement for Treesa and Gayatri. The pair had reached All England semi-finals in consecutive years (2022 and 2023) and won Commonwealth Games bronze in 2022. They also broke into the world’s top 10 for a while. Their progress was interrupted earlier this year when Treesa suffered a serious ankle injury in training two high-grade muscle tears and two ligament tears after accidentally stepping on Gayatri’s foot. The long recovery forced them to rebuild and they became unseeded. But their campaign has been excellent in this tournament. India has now secured its first medal of the World Championships 2026 through the women’s doubles.
Treesa and Gayatri come from behind to win the match
Treesa and Gayatri were clear underdogs coming into this game. They were behind at the start with 1-6 in the opening game and trailed for a long period. The Chinese pair looked to take control but the Indians came back and closed the gap to 14-16. The Chinese pair of Jia and Zhang held their serves and closed out the first game 21-16. Treesa and Gayatri bounced back stronger in the second game. Their attacking play improved, smashes found the court more consistently, and their net play also tightened a bit. They took the lead and held it well to seal the second set 21-15 and level the match.
In the decider the uncapped Indian pair was excellent. They took an early 11-5 lead and then extended it to 14-7, and from there it was tough for the Chinese duo to come back into the contest. A few nervous moments happened but Tressa did well to hold her serve. Zhang sprayed a shot wide on match point as the Indian pair won the match. The celebrations started as Treesa fell on the court with happiness while Gayatri stood almost in disbelief. The home crowd erupted and cheered for them. Treesa and Gayatri will return to the court for a semi-final with a medal already assured and the chance to make history again.
