India suffered another heartbreak at the Asian Games as the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand crashed out of the Asian Games 2026 quarterfinal, losing 18-21, 9-21 to Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in 42 minutes.
A win would have secured at least a bronze for the pair, and they would have become the country’s first pair to win an Asian Games medal in the women’s doubles category, but that was not the case.
Treesa and Gayatri made a promising start and showed plenty of attacking intent, with Treesa using her powerful smashes and accurate front-court pushes to put pressure on the Malaysian pair. Tan and Muralitharan, however, defended strongly and kept finding ways back into the rallies. India fought hard towards the end of the opening game, cutting the deficit to 18-20 after a long rally. But Thinaah produced a crucial smash to help Malaysia close out the game 21-18 after 22 minutes.
The Indian pair started the second game with a 3-0 lead. However, the Malaysians soon found a weakness in the Indian defence, repeatedly targeting Gayatri’s backhand and forcing her out of position. Tan and Muralitharan then went on to win eight-points to take control of the game. India struggled to regain momentum, with Treesa also finding it difficult to execute her smashes and drops effectively from the far end of the court. The errors continued to mount as Malaysia pulled further ahead, eventually winning the second game 21-9 to seal the quarterfinal in 42 minutes.
Treesa and Gayatri won a bronze medal at the World Championships and were hopeful of a medal at the Asian Games but they were outplayed by a better team. The pair had qualified for the quarterfinal after beating Japan’s Mayu Matsumoto and Yuki Fukushima in straight games.