Treesa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand seal historic BWF C'ships medal
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New Delhi: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand have scripted a historic chapter for Indian badminton, storming into the women's doubles semi-finals at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi and assuring India a medal.
The fourth-seeded Chinese pair of Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian were beaten 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 in a thrilling quarter-final at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. After dropping the opening game, the unseeded Indian duo produced a superb comeback to defeat opponents they had lost to in all three of their previous meetings.
The achievement ends a 15-year wait for India in the women's doubles event at the World Championships. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were the last Indian pair to win a medal in the event, taking bronze at the 2011 edition in London.
The result is even more significant for Kerala, with Treesa becoming the first Malayali woman to win a medal at the BWF World Championships. H.S. Prannoy had become the first Keralite to secure a World Championships badminton medal in 2023, winning bronze in men's singles.
Treesa and Gayatri's run comes after a difficult start to the year, during which Treesa suffered an ankle injury in training ahead of the Asian Championships and Uber Cup. Following rehabilitation, they returned to the Indonesia Open, also competed at the US Open, and then won the Philippine International Challenge earlier this month.
The partnership, formed in Hyderabad, has already delivered major results, including All England Open semi-final appearances in 2022 and 2023 and a women's doubles bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Treesa also helped India win the women's team gold at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in 2024.
The Indian pair will face the world No. 1 seeds in the semi-finals.