Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand punched above their weight to beat the higher-ranked Japanese pair of Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi at the 2026 Badminton World Championships Round of 16 clash on Thursday. In a match where the pressure was on the 39th-ranked Indian shuttlers against the seventh-seeded Japanese pair, neither Treesa nor Gayatri made it feel like an upset. The box-office clash had everything – intensity, aggression, comeback and, in the end, a win for India.
The final scoreline read 21-16, 21-12, but there was plenty of drama for it to be labelled a box-office clash. They claimed eight straight points to take the first game 21-16. It was important for the Indian pair to hold their nerve, especially when things looked tough, but they channelled their aggression brilliantly under pressure. Treesa and Gayatri then ran riot, completely turning the game around and giving the Japanese pair no chance to respond. The momentum shifted towards the Indian pair, sparking a different kind of aggression. They carried that into the second game, putting the Japanese pair under pressure from the very outset. The Indians kept pushing and attacking, never allowing their opponents to settle.
