Treesa-Gayatri eye World Championships after injury layoff

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, India's top women's doubles pair, will begin their BWF World Championships campaign in New Delhi on Monday after an injury derailed their season. Treesa suffered two ligament tears and two muscle tears in her ankle during training on April 1, leading to seven weeks of complete bed rest and two months of rehabilitation. She was sidelined from competitive badminton for nearly three months, causing the pair's ranking to slip from world No.20 in January to No.58 by June.

During her recovery, chief coach Pullela Gopichand and Gayatri, his daughter, supported Treesa. Gayatri maintained her fitness so the duo could restart quickly. They made a strategic decision to enter the Philippine International Challenge, a lower-tier event, to regain match fitness and won the title. "It feels great to be back on the podium," Gayatri told HT. Treesa said the ankle is now "perfect" and that the competition helped build confidence.

The pair faces Spain's Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez in their opening match. Gayatri said they have a good chance, while Treesa believes the women's doubles field is wide open. "In women's doubles, if you are in top 20, it's like equal players," she said. "We have that in us where we can break into not only the top 10, but the top five."