Indian women’s doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand opened its BWF World Tour Finals debut with a closely contested loss to China’s Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in Hangzhou on Wednesday.
The match went into a decider which ended 20-22, 22-20, 21-14 in favour of the Chinese pair, which clinched the silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Group A fixture of the 2024 iteration of the tournament started with the Indians taking the first game. However, the Chinese shuttlers came back to clinch the second game.
The decider didn’t bear semblance to the first two games, which saw both pairs being on equal footing. The Olympic medallists showed their experience and notched up the win.
The Indian duo - the only players from the country in this edition - next faces Tan Pearly and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia on Thursday, December 12.
Treesa and Gayatri came into the Tour Finals after clinching their maiden Super 300 title after they triumphed in the Syed Modi International’s final. The duo also reached the semifinals of Singapore and Macau Open earlier this year.
The women’s doubles category is divided into two groups of four pairs each. The top two duos will make it to the semifinals of the Tour Finals.
