Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand reach World Championships semifinals with comeback win
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand beat China's Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 in the women's doubles quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on August 21, 2026, prevailing after one hour nine minutes to advance to the semifinals.
The unseeded Indian pairing, returning from a period of recovery for Treesa Jolly, entered the match with a 0-3 head-to-head record against the Chinese duo. India had not won a World Championships women's doubles medal since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa took bronze in London in 2011. Treesa and Gayatri previously reached the All England Open semi-finals in 2022 and 2023, won Commonwealth Games bronze in 2022, and broke into the world top 10 at the start of last year.
In the opening game the Indians fell behind 1-6 before rattling off six straight points to reach 8-9; the Chinese regained control to hold a three-point lead at the interval and moved to 17-14 before closing out the first game. The scoreline in the first game finished 21-16 in favour of Jia and Zhang.
Zhang and Jia carried momentum into the second game, building a 5-1 edge and later leading 10-7, but Treesa and Gayatri answered with a run to lead 13-10. The second set remained tight around 15-14 before the Indians produced a decisive burst to open a 19-14 margin and secured the set 21-15.
The decider began in India’s favour as they surged to 11-5 and extended to 14-7; a couple of errors from Treesa and a service fault from Gayatri followed but the Chinese were unable to capitalise. Under mounting pressure the opponents committed several unforced errors at the net and the Indians raced to 17-9.
At 18-9 the Chinese sent a wide shot, and Treesa and Gayatri earned nine match points when Jia and Zhang failed to negotiate a shot and hit the net. Jia and Zhang saved two match points before spraying another shot wide, prompting Treesa to fall flat on the court in celebration while Gayatri looked on in disbelief as the Indians completed the comeback.
Treesa’s recovery earlier this year came after an ankle injury sustained while training ahead of the Asia Badminton Championships and the Uber Cup; following rehabilitation the pair returned at the Indonesia Open, competed at the U.S. Open and won the Philippine International Challenge earlier this month. The quarterfinal victory takes them into the last four at the World Championships and guarantees at least a bronze medal.