Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand secure India’s first women’s doubles World Championships medal since 2011
The unseeded Indian pair fought back from a game down to beat China’s fourth seeds Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 in New Delhi, guaranteeing at least a bronze.
New Delhi1 min read
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Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand ended India’s 15-year wait for a women’s doubles medal at the BWF World Championships on Friday in New Delhi.
The unseeded pair, ranked world No. 39, defeated China’s fourth seeds Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 in the quarter-finals at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The match lasted 69 minutes. The result puts them into the semi-finals and guarantees India at least a bronze medal.
India’s last women’s doubles podium finish at the Worlds came in 2011, when Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa took bronze in London. Jolly and Gopichand had lost all three previous meetings with the Chinese pair.
After dropping the opening game, the Indians adjusted their tactics, increased pressure at the net and controlled the rallies in the second and third games. Gayatri Gopichand, daughter of national coach Pullela Gopichand, and Treesa Jolly, recovering from an ankle injury earlier this year, absorbed the home crowd’s energy and closed out the decider 21-13.
Treesa said after the match: “Right now just processing this one. We are into the semifinals and being on the podium but it’s not finished yet. This is not the ending. We came here with a goal.”
The pair had reached the quarter-finals by beating Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi in the round of 16. Their campaign continues against higher-ranked opposition in the last four.
The result extends India’s streak of winning at least one medal at every World Championships since 2011 and marks the first guaranteed medal for the hosts at this edition.
