BWF World Championships: ‘I Manifested Every Day Being on That Podium,’ Says Treesa After Bronze

August 23, 2026

New Delhi: Indian shuttler Treesa Jolly said she had visualised herself standing on the World Championships podium every day over the last three months, making her historic bronze medal with Gayatri Gopichand even more special.

“I actually manifested every day being on that podium. I think that’s somewhere the manifestation, that belief. Every day you dream for that. Every day you visualise yourself manifesting that. I think that you can see it actually happening today,” Treesa told IANS.

Treesa-Gayatri secure historic World Championships bronze

Treesa and Gayatri lost 21-18, 13-21, 8-21 to defending champions Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China in the semifinals. However, reaching the last four had already secured them a historic women’s doubles bronze medal.

The achievement marked India’s first women’s doubles medal at the BWF World Championships since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won bronze in 2011.

The Indian pair produced one of the biggest results of the tournament by defeating fourth seeds Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian in the quarterfinals to assure themselves of a medal.

Treesa credits balance of aggression and calmness

Reflecting on the mindset that helped the pair overcome challenges during the tournament, Treesa said she had learned to strike the right balance between aggression and calmness.

“I feel like this time, this tournament, I was converting into calmness and aggressiveness. When I need the aggressiveness, I just need to use that. When I need to be in a position where I need to handle the situation, I just need to be calm,” she said.

Treesa added that the change in approach helped the duo, particularly against Chinese opponents.

“I think playing with Chinese and all, you cannot give easy points. You need to be alert from the first to the 21st point,” she said.

Indian pair’s quarterfinal win proved decisive

That approach was evident throughout their campaign, especially in the quarterfinal against the fourth-seeded Chinese pair.

“I think that’s what we did here. We were so alert, and we were not ready to give any easy points to them. In our mind, it was like they needed to struggle to get points from us. I think that really worked,” Treesa said.

She recalled how the Chinese pair eventually struggled under the pressure created by the Indian duo.

“When we played the quarterfinals, at the end of the game, actually the Chinese cracked because we were so alert and we were not giving points away. That really helped us,” she added.

Against Liu and Tan, Treesa and Gayatri started strongly and took the opening game 21-18 after a tense contest. The Chinese duo responded by winning the second game 21-13 before dominating the decider 21-8.

Despite missing out on a place in the World Championships final, Treesa said the bronze medal would remain one of the most memorable achievements of her career.

“This is kind of a dream come true. Arjun Award, being a World Championship medallist. I think this is an amazing week. I think in my life, I always cherish these moments,” she said.