Treesa-Gayatri upset Chinese fourth seeds to ensure medal for India at BWF World meet

India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand kept alive India’s streak of winning at least one medal at each edition of the BWF World Championships since 2011 as they upset fourth seeds Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian of China to reach the women’s doubles semifinals at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.

Treesa and Gayatri came back from a game down to beat Jia and Zhang 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 in the quarterfinals and become only the second Indian women’s doubles combination to win a World Championships medal. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were the first Indian combination to achieve this feat when they clinched the bronze in London 15 years ago which kickstarted India’s run of medals.

Treesa-Gayatri, Satwik-Chirag keep India’s medal hopes alive as Sindhu, Ayush sink

For that streak to continue, India needed at least one of their doubles pairing to fire on all cylinders and Treesa-Gayatri raised the bar when it mattered against a pairing which had beaten them thrice before in three meetings.

Treesa-Gayatri did not have the best of starts

The Indians did not have the best of the starts as they trailed 0-6 and 2-8 in the opening game but they began to assert themselves with an aggressive game plan. They won six straight points to close the gap at 8-9 but the Chinese kept nudging ahead and closed out the game.

The start of the second game also took a similar trajectory as the Chinese pair opened up a 10-7 lead. But Treesa and Gayatri once again stepped up with both creating openings from the net and then finishing with the cross-court smashes.

Treesa-Gayatri will take on top seeds Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning in the semifinal on Saturday. Pics: BAI

With the momentum shifting, the Indians went on an all-attacking game plan and won eight straight points to take 9-4 lead and never looked back from there on. They could not hold back their tears after Jia send her lift wide to assure the home favourites a medal.

“The match was very difficult and hence the emotions. We are still processing the result and really happy that we converted the match. We don’t want to stop here, we have come here with a goal and looking forward. The crowd was amazing today and pushed us towards the win,” said Gayatri and Treesa, who also had India’s sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Badminton Association of India president Himanta Biswa Sarma in the stands to cheer them on.

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Treesa-Gayatri will take on top seeds Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning in the semifinal on Saturday.

Satwik-Chirag fall to Chinese pair

Later in the day, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty went down 21-18, 21-9 against China’s third seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the men’s doubles quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, the men’s singles category will have a new world champion after second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand was knocked out by Frenchman Alex Lanier in the quarterfinals.

Kunlavut, who was the only former world champion left in the draw, started strong as he won the opening game against Lanier but could not sustain the momentum and lost 19-21, 21-16, 21-16. The Frenchman will now face Canada’s Victor Lai, who ended the dream run of Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-19, 21-18

Earlier in the day, former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan gave a walkover to Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in her women’s singles quarterfinals citing a knee injury.

Results: Men’s singles: 7-Victor Lai (CAN) beat Rasmus Gemke (DEN) 21-19, 21-18; 9-Alex Lanier (FRA) beat 2-Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA) 19-21, 21-16, 21-16; 10-Kodai Naroaka (JPN) beat 4-Anders Antonsen (DEN) 21-19, 21-15.

Women’s singles: 1-An Se Young (KOR) beat 5-Han Yue (CHN) 21-19, 21-12; 2-Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) beat 13-Michelle Li (CAN) 21-17, 21-10; 3-Wang Zhi Yi (CHN) beat Line Christophersen (DEN) 21-10, 21-7.

Men’s doubles: 3-Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang (CHN) beat 5-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (IND) 21-18, 21-9.

Women’s doubles: Gayatri Gopichand/Treesa Jolly (IND) beat 4-Jia Yi Fan/Zhang Shu Xian 16-21, 21-15, 21-13; 1-Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning beat Yeung Nga Ting/Yeung Pui Lam (TPE) 14-17.