India’s opponents Liu and Tan have now won six of their seven meetings against Treesa and Gayatri
Published: August 22, 2026, 9:11 PM IST
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Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in semi-final action at the BWF World Championships(Credits: X)
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand’s impressive run at the BWF World Championships came to an end with a three-game loss to world No1 and defending champions Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in the women’s doubles semifinals on SaturdayThe Indian pair went down 21-18, 13-21, 8-21 in 71 minutes but secured their first World Championships medal.
The bronze is India’s first women’s doubles medal at the World Championships since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won bronze in London in 2011The unseeded Treesa and Gayatri had reached the semifinals after beating three seeded pairs during their run.
The Indians started strongly in front of a crowd of nearly 8,000They raced to a 7-2 lead, but Liu and Tan quickly responded with six straight pointsThe Chinese pair led 11-7 at the interval and used angled returns to put pressure on the Indians.
Treesa and Gayatri fought back after the breakA 31-shot rally helped them draw level at 12-12, and the two pairs continued to trade pointsIndia made it 18-18 before Treesa produced a fine cross-court winner to put them aheadTwo errors from the Chinese gave India two game points, and they took the first chance when Liu and Tan sent a shot long.
The second game was much closer at the startChina led 5-4 before India fought back to make it 10-10However, Liu and Tan regained control and opened a 14-12 lead.
A few errors from the Indian pair then allowed the Chinese to pull awayGayatri made two net errors and another Indian shot went wide as China moved to 19-12They took the second game 21-13 to force a decider.
India stayed in the contest early in the third game, winning a 56-shot rally to make it 2-2But the Chinese pair soon changed the paceIndia struggled to match them and fell behind 6-2More errors followed and Liu and Tan led 11-5 at the interval.
The final game quickly turned into one-way trafficChina moved from 12-5 to 17-7 before earning 12 match pointsThey finished the match with a cross-court winner.
Gayatri said India lacked patience in the second game and could not find their rhythmTreesa felt the mistakes after the second game made them more defensive, which did not work against the Chinese pair.
The defeat also continued China’s advantage in their head-to-head recordLiu and Tan had now won six of their seven meetings with Treesa and Gayatri.
Despite the loss, the bronze marks a major step for the Indian pairTheir run against three seeded pairs and a win over the defending champions’ opponents showed that Treesa and Gayatri can compete with the best in women’s doubles.
(With PTI inputs)
