The Indian women's doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand. Photo: File The Indian women's doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand. Photo: File 
The Indian women's doubles team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand put up an impressive fight before going down in three games against world No. 1 Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China in their Group A opening match of the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou on Wednesday. (More Badminton News)
Treesa and Gayatri, the only Indians to qualify for the season-ending tournament, lost 20-22, 22-20, 21-14 to Sheng and Tan, who had claimed a silver medal at the Paris Olympics.
Coming into the match with a 1-3 head-to-head record, the world No. 13 Treesa and Gayatri trailed 8-13 in the opening game but kept pressuring their higher-ranked opponents, eventually catching up at 19-19.
The scores were tied at 20-20, but the Indians held their nerve to clinch the first game and take early bragging rights.
After the change of sides, the two pairs fought fiercely for supremacy. The Chinese duo managed to establish a five-point lead at 17-12. Treesa and Gayatri fought back to level the score at 18-18, but Sheng and Tan maintained their composure to force a decider.
In the third game, Sheng and Tan relied on their experience to secure an 11-5 lead at the mid-game interval. Despite a spirited effort from Treesa and Gayatri, who narrowed the deficit to 13-15, the Chinese pair maintained their edge to close out the match.
BWF Awards 2024: India's Gayatri Gopichand Pullela Adjudged Best Dressed Shuttler - Watch Treesa and Gayatri, who won their maiden super 300 title at Syed Modi International in Lucknow recently, will face Malaysia’s world No. 6 pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan, the reigning Commonwealth Games champions, on Thursday.
The Malaysian combination has a 6-1 head-to-head count against the Indiansgo777, who had defeated them at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship last year.