Gayatri Gopichand, Treesa Jolly Hail World Bronze Run

Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly said their BWF World Championships bronze medal run has strengthened their belief that they can achieve more in women’s doubles. The Indian pair exited in the semifinals after a 21-18, 13-21, 8-21 defeat to world No. 1 and defending champions Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning, but their campaign delivered a significant result for Indian badminton.

Gayatri and Treesa became the first Indian women’s doubles pair to win a World Championships medal since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa took bronze in London in 2011. Their place on the podium also put them in an exclusive group of Indian players to have won a medal at the World Championships.

The pair started strongly against Liu and Tan, taking the opening game 21-18. The defending champions responded by winning the next two games 21-13 and 21-8 to secure their place in the title clash, while Gayatri and Treesa’s tournament ended with bronze.

‘This is just the start’ for the Indian pair

Treesa said the medal was a proud moment and described it as the beginning of a longer journey for the pair. “Being into that club, I feel so happy. There is a lot of journey we have in the future. I feel like this is just the start,” she told reporters after the semifinal.

She also thanked the support staff around the pair, saying they planned to celebrate with the team behind them. “First of all, I would like to thank the team behind us. We will take them for some lunch or something,” Treesa said.

The World Championships campaign came in a week that also brought recognition away from the court. Gayatri and Treesa were announced as Arjuna Award recipients earlier in the week, and Treesa said the news had provided an additional lift during the tournament.

“We just need to take this as a positive and in a confident way. Even that Arjuna Award this week when they announced, I feel like that also gave us some other boost in this tournament,” she said.

Treesa looked back on the event as an important week filled with strong performances and valuable lessons. “If you see the whole week, it has been amazing, I feel like. We have made so much of upset and it’s such a great week for us. So much of great matches we played and so much of things to take away from this tournament,” she said.

Strong first game, but a difficult semifinal finish

Gayatri said the emotional demands of the pair’s previous match had affected them mentally, even though they were able to make a fresh start in the semifinal. Their opening-game win against the top-ranked defending champions showed that they were ready to compete, before the match turned in the following two games.

“Yesterday was a pretty intense match. So mentally it was pretty tough. Today when we were on court, we were fresh in the first set as well. Sometimes you do get a little tired mentally,” Gayatri said.

Treesa added that confidence and fortune can both matter in decisive stages of matches. “I feel like in the crucial situations, it’s like with confidence and luck, everything will come together,” she said.

While the semifinal defeat denied Gayatri and Treesa a place in the title match, their bronze ended a 15-year wait for an Indian women’s doubles medal at the BWF World Championships. More importantly for the pair, the result has given them a positive reference point as they look ahead to the next phase of their partnership.