Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand have made sure India remain hopeful of a medal in the women’s category at BWF World Badminton Championships 2026. The Indian pair had a tricky road ahead of the mega event, especially after Treesa suffered an injury earlier in 2026 that kept her out of several major tournaments. With the World Championships drawing closer, the pressure was beginning to build, but they managed to get the perfect tune-up at the Philippine International Challenge, where they emerged victorious and regained some much-needed confidence.
That belief has now taken them one step closer to a World Championship medal on home soil. Sumeeth explained how the contrasting ice and fire personalities of the two shuttlers have worked in their favour, with Treesa bringing in the aggression and Gayatri keeping her in check. “That’s how they are, and their nature is like that. The latter failed to handle back-to-back smashes, and it disrupted their rhythm.
Because we were pretty confident that if the girls play well, they can beat any good pair, with the confidence that they were showing in practice, “Not really [on any pressure of playing top-seeded players],. That’s how they are, and I think that really helped, especially, you know, Trisha needs to be fired up, and then we need to calm her down a little bit so that she’s not over-smashing.
I think we were not very concerned about the draw,” Sumeeth told Hindustan Times. He said finding the right balance between the two has been crucial, especially in the pressure moments of their matches. So, I think that is an important thing, and there’s, like I said, a fine line between doing more and doing less.
I think we need to stay very close to that line, and today I think they have done it tremendously well,” he explained. The aggressiveness was quite on display on Friday when the two players were charged up, especially in the final game and outshone the Chinese pair with some serious speed.
He revealed that Treesa and Gayatri were never too concerned about their own seeding or that of their opponents, choosing instead to focus on their game and the challenge in front of them. He revealed that coach Pullela Gopichand focused specifically on Treesa’s net play and Gayatri’s backcourt game, with the aim of creating a more effective combination against the world’s top pairs. B Sumeeth Reddy, in an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times Digital, spoke about the confidence within the Indian pair right from the beginning. Sumeeth also shed light on the work that went into sharpening Treesa and Gayatri’s games ahead of the World Championships. “Gopi sir worked a lot on the net game of Trisha and also the backcourt of Gaya. I mean, that was a very selective decision to make sure that there’s a significant change and the rallies were broken down into small bits and pieces, and then that’s how he made sure that every stroke is taken care of in the best possible way,” he added.
The pair were unfazed by the challenge ahead despite being unseeded at an event of such stature, especially with the added pressure of playing in front of the home crowd, according to Treesa’s coach.
