Treesa-Gayatri end India's 15-year wait for women's doubles Worlds medal

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand said on Sunday, August 23, that the best answer to their critics was to let their performance speak for itself — and the Indian women's doubles pair could hardly have delivered a stronger response, capping what they called an "amazing" week with a maiden World Championships bronze medal.

The unseeded Indian duo secured the medal after losing to world No. 1 and defending champions Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China in the semifinals on Saturday. "I think the silent result is everything that we can give rather than just telling people where you are, who you are. That is something that we cannot do. At least, what we can show is in our result. I think eventually we did that," Treesa told reporters on Sunday.

Treesa had only recently returned from an ankle injury sustained in April that kept her out of action for several months, meaning expectations around the pair were modest heading into the tournament, with attention largely focused on PV Sindhu, Ayush Shetty, and the men's doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. "A lot of negativity, everything will come. But at that time, if you take it in your mind, it's not like you are being in the present moment. We both are here to do something big. And we need to just show that we are here to do something. Actually, we did that," Treesa said.

For Gayatri, the medal capped what she described as an emotional and eventful week. "It's been a great week, very emotional, eventful. We're super happy with the bronze medal," she said, adding that the duo were "just so happy" after their quarterfinal win and had given their all in the semifinal even though the result didn't go their way. "We will cherish this moment forever," she said. Asked how they marked the achievement, the pair said they celebrated with ice creams, though they ruled out getting a tattoo to commemorate the medal.

Ranked 39th in the world, Treesa and Gayatri beat three seeded pairs on their way to the semifinals, ending a 15-year wait for an Indian women's doubles medal at the World Championships — the country's last coming via Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa's bronze in 2011.

Reflecting on their wins over several top Chinese pairs during the tournament, Treesa said the key lay in avoiding cheap points and staying composed during crucial phases of matches. "I think those kinds of players, if you lose two points, then they will actually take charge and they will actually continue the momentum. So, we just need to break those barriers," she said, adding that gifting opponents easy points, particularly in tight moments around 15-all or 16-all was something they needed to guard against. She pointed to Tan Ning's flick serves in Saturday's semifinal as a factor that disrupted their rhythm and made returns difficult.

Despite trailing Liu and Tan 1-7 in their head-to-head record, Treesa expressed confidence that a breakthrough win against the top-ranked pair is only a matter of time. "100 per cent. It's not really good when you are losing with them. It doesn't feel amazing or anything like that. I think, obviously, it's a matter of time," she said, noting that their matches against the Chinese pair have often gone the distance, a fact she said gives the Indian duo belief that victory is within reach.

(With inputs from PTI)