Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand assured India of a medal, while men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty exited the BWF World Championships 2026 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
Commonwealth Games medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, the first Indian pair in action on Friday, produced a comeback win to reach the semi-finals and extend India’s streak of winning at least one medal at every edition of the tournament since 2011.
After losing the opening game in their quarter-final, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand rallied to beat two-time Olympic medallist Jia Yifan and defending champion Zhang Shuxian of the People’s Republic of China 16-21, 21-15, 21-13.
The quarter-final victory made Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand only the second Indian women’s doubles pair to win a BWF World Championships medal.
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were the first Indian women’s doubles pair to win a World Championships medal, claiming bronze at London in 2011. It started India’s streak of winning at least one medal at every edition of the tournament, covering 11 championships.
In the match, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made a slow start, trailing 6-0 and 8-2 in the opening game, before closing the gap to 9-8 with six successive points.
The world No. 4 Chinese pair, however, managed to hold their nerve and win the opening game.
Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxian had the better start in the second game as well, leading 10-7 before Treesa and Gayatri responded with an aggressive approach, creating openings at the net and finishing points with cross-court smashes to force a decider.
The Indian badminton players carried their momentum into the decider, racing to a 9-4 lead after winning eight successive points.
They maintained their intensity throughout the third game to complete a comeback victory and register their first-ever victory in four meetings against the Chinese duo.
Treesa-Gayatri will face top seeds and Paris 2024 silver medallists Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning of China in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Meanwhile, India’s top men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s campaign ended in the quarter-finals, ending their hopes of a third BWF World Championships medal after bronze at Tokyo 2022 and Paris 2025.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, fifth in the men’s doubles badminton rankings, lost 21-18, 21-9 against world No. 3 Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China.
Satwik and Chirag led 15-12 in the first game but were unable to hold on as the Chinese pair fought back to take the opener. Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang then dominated the second game to complete a comfortable straight-games victory.
The defeat was Satwik-Chirag’s 10th in 14 meetings against Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang and their second loss to the Chinese pair this year, after their defeat at the Thomas and Uber Cup.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/bwf-world-championships-2026-badminton-india-quarter-finals-report
