Indian badminton pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand secured a historic bronze medal at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi.
The Indian duo’s impressive campaign ended in the semifinals after they were beaten by top seeds and defending champions Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China. Treesa and Gayatri won the opening game 21-18, but the Chinese pair fought back to win the next two games 21-13 and 21-8.
The bronze medal is India’s first women’s doubles medal at the BWF World Championships since 2011, when Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won bronze.
Treesa and Gayatri had earlier defeated China’s fourth-seeded Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian in the quarterfinals to assure themselves of a medal.
The achievement marks a major breakthrough for the Indian pair and ends a 15-year wait for India in the women’s doubles category at the World Championships.
