Treesa Jolly & Gayatri Gopich and celebrating a point during day 5 of the BWF World Championships 2026 being held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. (Photo Courtesy: BAI) NEW DELHI: On July 23, Treesa Jolly posted an old photo of herself alongside teammate Gayatri Pullela Gopich and on Instagram.
In the photo, an enthused and pumped-up Jolly had her fist clenched, with the caption reading, " Healed by time, fueled by the wait." On April 1, in a freak accident, the 23-year-old Jolly landed on the foot of her women's doubles teammate Gayatri during a training session.
The Kannur-born shuttler went down in a heap after rolling and twisting her ankle. An MRI confirmed two ligament tears and two high-grade muscle tears.
The shuttler was recommended complete bed rest for seven weeks, followed by two months of rehabilitation. In all, she was slated to be sidelined from badminton for three months, ruling her out of the Badminton Asia Championships, among other tournaments.
Before stepping on to the court again at the Indonesia Open in June, after a two-month layoff, she celebrated her 23rd birthday and visited the Disney Adventure Park in California. When she did get back on tour, the duo lost in straight games in the opening round in Jakarta.
With the treacherous road back confirmed, the duo, alongside their coaches, decided to play the Philippine International Challenge and navigated the field to the title. India's Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopich and celebrate as they defeat China's Zhang Shuxian and Jia Yifan in the women's doubles quarter-final match at the BWF World Championships at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, in New Delhi on Friday.
(ANI Photo) The big fish came two weeks later, the BWF World Championships in New Delhi. On Friday, they assured India of at least a bronze medal by moving into the semi-finals following a come-from-behind 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 win against Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian.
In the process, they became the first Indian women's doubles medallists at the World Championships since Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta in 2011. It also extended India's run of bagging a medal at the Worlds to a 12th consecutive edition.
I think just being calm and patient and just being in the present moment, that's actually what we need to do to score points against them. Gayatri Gopich and" I think just being calm and patient and just being in the present moment, that's actually what we need to do to score points against them.

