India’s Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly celebrate after their quarterfinal victory over China’s Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian during the BWF badminton World Championships 2026, at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, in New Delhi on Friday, August 21, 2026.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
‘Keep calm and carry on,’ Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand kept telling each other en route to a historic quarterfinal win against Jia Yifan and Shuxian Zhang, a pair that has between them five medals at the World Championships and two at the Olympics.
It was forgotten the moment Yifan sent the shuttle wide on match point, Gayatri sprawling on the court and Treesa rushing to hug Pullela Gopichand and B. Sumeeth Reddy in the coaches’ corner.
They broke down, took a long break before returning to answer questions and for once, no one grudged the Indian youngsters.
“It was really difficult with all the emotions and processing what had finally happened but we are ok now,” Treesa admitted. “We are really happy to get into the semifinals and confirm a medal but we are not stopping here. There are matches still to come,” she declared, making it clear that the pair was not yet done.
Next up would be the top-seeded pair of Sheng Shu Liu & Ning Tan but when asked about the match, Gayatri insisted there would be little change in the mindset.
“We don’t want to think too much about the outcome. Today was also a tough match, we knew it would not be easy. We were trailing by a game and even in the second, it was tricky. We told each other to stay calm and will do the same tomorrow, get on court and give our 100 percent and just enjoy,” she added.
Gayatri has made no secret of Gopichand the father’s strict regimen, but on Friday there were no complaints about Gopichand the coach from either.
“When we started as partners, he was the one who told us he believed we could achieve something big. It is really special to have him in the chair, he has been a big support and I am grateful he can travel with us.
“He was telling us to just stay calm, stay in the present and that really helped. There have been a few tournaments where I have messed up with my greediness to score quickly. Today we were not greedy, we were just being patient and waiting for the right moments to the points.”
Published – August 21, 2026 08:06 pm IST
