Treesa-Gayatri continue dream run, stun Japanese pair to reach World Championship quarters

Indian women's doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand continued their impressive run at the World Championships, storming into the quarterfinals with a straight-games victory over Japan's seventh-seeded pair Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi on Thursday.

The unseeded Indians, who are on a comeback trail after Treesa's injury layoff, produced a dominant performance to dispatch the world No 7 Japanese pair 21-16, 21-12 in a one-sided contest.

The victory puts Treesa and Gayatri one win away from securing a World Championships medal.

The duo, who received the Arjuna Award for 2025, have already enjoyed a series of impressive performances on the international circuit. They reached the All England Open semifinals in consecutive years in 2022 and 2023, won a Commonwealth Games bronze in 2022 and broke into the world's top 10 at the beginning of last year.

However, their progress was interrupted earlier this year when Treesa suffered an ankle injury while training ahead of the Asia Badminton Championships and Uber Cup. She accidentally stepped on Gayatri's foot during practice, twisting her ankle. An MRI subsequently revealed two high-grade muscle tears and two ligament tears.

After undergoing an arduous rehabilitation programme, Treesa and Gayatri returned to competition at the Indonesia Open before featuring at the US Open. They then clinched the Philippine International Challenge title earlier this month.

Now, the Indian pair are just one victory away from a place on the World Championships podium- a remarkable step forward in their comeback journey.
(With PTI inputs)