Gayatri–Treesa fight, take bronze
India’s women’s doubles pair took the first game off the top seeds in New Delhi before China turned the screw. The medal is still bronze, and it’s in the bag.
The Indian pair secured a World Championships bronze after reaching the semifinals in New Delhi.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand won India a women’s doubles bronze at the 2026 BWF World Championships in New Delhi, going down in the semifinal to China’s top-seeded and defending champions Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning. According to Akashvani’s report from the venue, the Indians took the opener 21-18 before the Chinese closed it out 21-13, 21-8.
Multiple match reports corroborate the three-game loss and the bronze outcome. In World Championships badminton there is no third-place playoff; reaching the semifinals secures a medal — the pair did that and then pushed the top seeds for a game in front of a loud Delhi crowd.
Gayatri — from Hyderabad’s first family of badminton — returns with a Worlds medal the sport in India has waited years for in women’s doubles. The athletes did their bit without a stadium named after a party office or a ribbon to cut; the credit belongs on their racquets, not in anyone’s manifesto.