NEW DELHI: Indian women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stood one step away from a medal after reaching quarterfinals with a straight game win over Japan's seventh seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi at the World Championships here on Thursday.
The Indian unseeded pair, which is on a comeback trail after Treesa recovered from an injury, dished out a dominating performance to outwit world No 7 Japanese Rin and Kie 21-16 21-12 in a lop-sided contest.
Treesa and Gayatri, who were awarded the Arjuna Award for 2025, had made it to the All England Open semi-finals in back-to-back years in 2022 and 2023. They also won a Commonwealth Games bronze in 2022 and broke into the top 10 at the start of last year.
However, early this year, Treesa suffered an ankle injury while training ahead of the Asia Badminton Championships and Uber Cup. Treesa had accidentally stepped on her partner's foot while practising, causing a twist in her ankle. The resulting MRI revealed two high-grade muscle tears and two ligament tears.
After a gruelling rehabilitation, Treesa and Gayatri returned at Indonesia Open and then played at US Open before winning the Philippine International Challenge early this month.