Strong Sharp Chinese Duo Hail Treesa Gayatri Worlds Upset

Indian women’s doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand confirmed a medal at the Badminton World Championships on Friday, defeating fourth seeds Jia Yifang and Zhang Shu Xian of China in a thrilling quarterfinal.

The Indian duo came back from a game down to win 16-21, 21-15, 21-13, ending India’s 15-year wait for a women’s doubles medal at the World Championships. India’s only previous medal in the category came in 2011, when Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won bronze in London.

“Treesa is a very strong attacking player and Gayatri is a very sharp minded player,” Chinese shuttler Jia Yifang said about the Indian pair.

After PV Sindhu and Ayush Shetty were knocked out earlier, the women’s doubles pair carried India’s medal hopes alongside Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.

Treesa and Gayatri had the worst imaginable start to the first game, unable to match the speed of the Chinese duo. Jia and Zhang made the Indians run around the court, forcing multiple errors. The Chinese led 9-2 at one stage, but the Indian pair made an impressive comeback to make it 8-9, with Gayatri finding her precision and Treesa her smashing power.

Despite trailing 8-11 at the mid-game break, the Indian duo stayed in the contest with Treesa’s body smashes and Gayatri’s pristine net play. However, the Chinese pair upped the ante with a couple of body smashes, and the Indians could only save one match point before losing the opener 21-16.

The Indian duo stepped up in style in the second game. Treesa and Gayatri started rotating between the front and back courts, creating more smashing opportunities. As the smashes increased, the Chinese pair made mistakes on the net. Two errors from Jia gave the Indians an early 5-3 lead.

The game went toe-to-toe until Treesa and Gayatri led 11-10 at the mid-game break. The scores were level at 14-13, but Treesa began smashing every opportunity. At 15-14, she hit five consecutive smashes before winning the rally to make it 16-14. With the crowd noise rising, the Chinese made three net errors as the Indians raced to match point and won the second game 21-15 to force a decider.

The third game was all about the Indian pair’s supreme confidence and the backing of the crowd. The Chinese made multiple errors due to the drift, with their pushes and smashes going out. The Indians led 11-5 at the mid-game break and closed the match with a 21-13 victory to confirm India’s first medal of the 2026 World Championships.