In a historic campaign that captured the imagination of Indian badminton fans, the unseeded duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand ended their remarkable run at the 2026 BWF World Championships with a bronze medal, falling short in the semifinals against World No. 1 and top seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China at the Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi on Saturday.
The Indian pair fought valiantly, taking the opening game 21-18 before the Chinese top seeds fought back to take the next two games 21-13, 21-8. Despite the defeat, Treesa and Gayatri ended India’s 15-year wait for a women’s doubles medal at the World Championships, since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa claimed bronze in 2011.
The historic run began with a statement win in the quarterfinals, where the Indian duo confirmed a medal by defeating fourth seeds Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian of China in a three-game thriller. The Indian pair lost the opening game 16-21 before mounting a gritty comeback to take the second 21-15. They carried that momentum into the decider, sealing the match with a dominant 21-13 victory.
The Indian pair began their campaign with a dominant Round of 64 win over Spain’s Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez, winning 21-9, 21-13. They followed that with a commanding Round of 32 victory over 16th seeds Lauren Lam and Allison Lee of the USA 21-15, 21-12. In the Round of 16, they stunned seventh seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan 21-16, 21-12 to become the first Indian women’s doubles pair to reach the World Championships quarterfinals since 2015.
Earlier on Friday, India’s medal tally could have swelled further, but the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also lost their quarterfinal clash against Chinese third seeds Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, ending their campaign without a medal. The defeat meant that Treesa and Gayatri’s bronze remained India’s only medal from the doubles events at this year’s World Championships, with singles stars PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Unnati Hooda and Ayush Shetty also having been eliminated earlier in the tournament.
