Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand upset fourth seeds to reach BWF World Championships semi-finals
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand upset fourth seeds Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Friday to reach the women’s doubles semi-finals of the BWF World Championships 2026, winning 16-21, 21-15, 21-13. The victory guarantees the pair a World Championships medal and extends India’s run of winning at least one medal at every edition since 2011.
The win makes Treesa and Gayatri only the second Indian women’s doubles combination to medal at the World Championships after Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who claimed bronze in London 15 years ago. Before this quarter-final the Chinese pair had beaten the Indians in all three of their previous meetings. India needed at least one doubles pairing to succeed to keep its medal streak alive, and Treesa-Gayatri produced the result on court.
The Indians fell behind early in the match, trailing 0-6 and then 2-8 in the opening game, before winning six consecutive points to cut the deficit to 8-9; Jia and Zhang closed out the first game 21-16. Treesa and Gayatri recovered from that slow start by changing the pattern of play and increasing their aggression around the net.
In the second game the Chinese opened a 10-7 lead, but the Indian duo created openings at the net and finished points with cross-court smashes. An eight-point run put Treesa and Gayatri 9-4 ahead and they went on to take the game 21-15.
The Indians completed the comeback with a 21-13 final game; the pair were emotional on court after Jia sent a lift wide that confirmed the medal for the home favourites. The match score read 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 in favour of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly.
“The match was very difficult and hence the emotions. We are still processing the result and really happy that we converted the match. “We don’t want to stop here, we have come here with a goal and looking forward. The crowd was amazing today and pushed us towards the win,” said Gayatri and Treesa, who also had India’s Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Badminton Association of India President Himanta Biswa Sarma in the stands to cheer them on.
Elsewhere in the quarter-finals, China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang beat Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 21-18, 21-9 to move into the semis. In men’s singles Alex Lanier of France defeated second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn 19-21, 21-16, 21-16 and will face Canada’s Victor Lai, who ended Rasmus Gemke’s run 21-19, 21-18. Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara gave a walkover to Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong citing a knee injury, and other quarter-final winners included Kodai Naraoka, An Se Young, Akane Yamaguchi and Wang Zhi Yi as listed in the quarter-final results.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will face top seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in the semi-final on Saturday.