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Treesa and Gayatri fought hard in the opening game but struggled to contain the attacking Malaysian duo, eventually going down 18-21, 9-21 to bow out in the last eight.
India’s badminton stars Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand (PTI)
World Championship bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand’s brilliant run at the Asian Games came to an end on Sunday, September 27, as the Indian pair suffered a straight-game loss to Malaysia’s world No. 5 duo of Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in the women’s doubles quarterfinals.
Treesa and Gayatri, who won a maiden World Championships bronze in New Delhi in August, stayed competitive in the opening game but were undone by a string of errors as they went down 18-21, 9-21 to Pearly and Thinaah, the 2025 World Championships silver medallists.
On the adjacent court, mixed doubles pair Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto put up a spirited fight before going down 14-21, 21-18, 18-21 to world No. 1 Chinese duo Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dongping in another quarterfinal.
The twin losses made it a disappointing day for India in badminton till now.
India’s two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and promising youngster Unnati Hooda will take on China’s Chen Yu Fei and Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, respectively, later in the day in the women’s singles quarterfinals.
Treesa and Gayatri entered the tournament in confident form after a successful World Championships campaign on home soil, where they bagged two victories over the world No. 3 Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.
But against the attacking Malaysian pair, against whom they had lost six of their previous eight meetings, Treesa and Gayatri fell 3-8 behind before mounting a strong comeback to draw level at 10-all.
It was high-quality attacking badminton as Treesa and Gayatri matched the Malaysians shot for shot to stay level at 14-all. But a lapse at the front court caught the Indians off guard, followed by a few more errors, allowing Pearly and Thinaah to open up a 17-14 lead.
A clever deception from Gayatri at the front court was followed by a ferocious rally, which ended with the Malaysians sending one shot wide as the Indians looked all set to mount another comeback.
But Pearly and Thinaah restored their three-point cushion at 19-16 before a Treesa error into the net handed the Malaysians four game points.
(With PTI Inputs)
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Ask News18Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand’s brilliant run at the Asian Games ended in the women’s doubles quarterfinals with a straight-game loss of 18-21, 9-21 against Malaysia’s world No. 5 pair, Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.
Ask News18September 27, 2026, 08:03 IST
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