Treesa-Gayatri set for World Championships opener after injury comeback

India's top women's doubles pair, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, have launched their BWF World Championships campaign in New Delhi with a dominant first-round win over Spain's Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez. The unseeded duo won 21-9, 21-13 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on August 17, setting up a Round of 32 clash against the 16th-seeded American pair of Lauren Lam and Allison Quynh Lee.

The win marks a strong return from a setback earlier this year. On April 1, Treesa suffered an ankle injury during training, with scans showing two ligament tears and two higher-grade muscle tears, as reported by Hindustan Times. She underwent seven weeks of bed rest and two months of rehabilitation, sidelining the pair for nearly three months. They missed the Asia Championships and the Uber Cup, and their ranking slipped from No.20 in January to No.58 by June.

To regain match fitness, the duo played the Philippine International Challenge, which they won. Times Now reports Treesa described playing in front of a home crowd as exciting. "The crowd, the hometown fan base gives us an extra boost of energy rather than pressure," she told Hindustan Times. Gayatri called their opening match a "perfect game."