New Delhi: India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out of the World Badminton Championship after losing their women’s doubles semifinal against China’s world No. 1 pair Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning here on Saturday.
However, the Indian duo put up a strong fight against the defending champions before going down. Although Treesa and Gayatri lost the semifinal, they secured a bronze medal as per the tournament rules, under which both losing semifinalists are awarded bronze medals.
This is the first time in 15 years that an Indian women’s doubles pair has won a medal at the Badminton World Championship.
In the semifinal against Liu and Tan, Treesa and Gayatri won the opening game 21-18.
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However, the Chinese pair bounced back strongly and won the next two games 21-13 and 21-8 to book their place in the final.
The Indian pair were unseeded in the tournament, but they produced an impressive run by defeating higher-ranked opponents and reaching the semifinals.
India had previously won a medal at the Badminton World Championship in 2011. On that occasion, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won the bronze medal.