Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in action during their women's doubles semifinal at the World Championships. | Photo: PTI
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand's memorable run at the World Championships came to an end on Saturday, but the Indian women's doubles pair walked away with a maiden bronze medal after losing to defending champions and world No. 1s Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in the semifinals.
The unseeded Indians made the Chinese favourites work hard before going down 21-18, 13-21, 8-21 in 71 minutes.
Treesa and Gayatri, who had already assured India of its first women's doubles World Championships medal since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa's bronze in 2011, started strongly despite having lost six of their previous seven meetings against the Chinese pair.
The Indians quickly moved 7-2 ahead, forcing Liu and Tan into a string of errors. The defending champions recovered and took control midway through the opening game, but Treesa and Gayatri refused to let the game slip away.
After trailing 16-18, the Indian pair produced their best badminton of the game. Treesa's attacking play helped them level at 18-18 before a sharp cross-court winner put them ahead. They then earned two game points and sealed the opener when the Chinese sent a shot long.
Liu and Tan responded immediately in the second game, opening up an early lead. India stayed within touching distance and even levelled the score at 10-10, but the Chinese pair gradually took control.
A series of errors from the Indians allowed the world No. 1 pair to pull away to 17-12. The Chinese then closed out the game to force a decider.
The third game began with another long exchange, but Liu and Tan soon established control. Their change of pace and sharper attack unsettled the Indians, who struggled to reproduce the intensity of the opening game.
China led 11-5 at the interval and continued to widen the gap after the change of ends. Treesa and Gayatri fought until the end but could not prevent the defending champions from sealing the match.
Despite the semifinal defeat, the bronze marks a major milestone for the Indian pair, who have battled injuries, poor form and a fall in rankings during the season.
Their medal also ends a 14-year wait for India in the women's doubles event at the World Championships.
(With inputs from PTI)
