Indian women’s doubles duo Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand knocked out seventh-seed Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan in straight games 21-16, 21-12 in the Round of 16 clash of the 2026 BWF Badminton World Championships, taking place at the Indira Gandhi Arena in Delhi on Thursday.

The Indian duo, ranked 39 in the world, are coming back from an injury layoff of 2.5 months.

It was a dominant display from the Indian shuttlers as their opponents are the bronze medallists from the 2025 edition.

To counter the drops and lifts of the Japanese duo, the Indian duo brought out an attacking game with speed.

While Gayatri was playing on the back court and producing winners, Treesa used her muscle power to force errors from the opponents.

The first game was neck-to-neck till 16-16 but the Indians pulled out the smashes to win five consecutive points and close the first game.

“Our coaches asked us to switch the game play and attack more. So, once we started attacking, it became much better for us,” said Gayatri.

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“Once we started, it took us two-three points to understand the game and it eventually got better,” she added further.

The Indian duo were more dominant in the second game as they took an early lead and held on to it.

“We were rotating. Usually in our combo, Treesa is on the back court and I play in the front but today, I was also playing from the back,” said Gayatri.

There was one controversial moment in the game also when Treesa was yellow carded by the referee for shuttle abuse as the official deemed that she had squeezed one.

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“Nerves were up there for us and I didn’t understand what happened. However, it’s okay and our coaches immediately calmed us down,” said Treesa.

With this win, the Indian duo is one win away from a medal. They will face world no four Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian of China in the quarterfinals.