Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, the Commonwealth Games bronze medalists, were defeated by Liu Sheng and Tan Ning in the women's doubles pre-quarterfinals of the Hong Kong Open badminton tournament on Thursday.
The match concluded with scores of 21-11, 22-20 in favour of the Chinese duo.
In the first game, the second-seeded Chinese pair took control early and secured a 21-11 win. The Indian team, ranked 26th in the world, made a strong comeback in the second game, staying level with their opponents until the score reached 15-all and then 20-all. However, Liu and Ning ultimately clinched the game 22-20.
The match lasted for 41 minutes.
This was the second consecutive defeat for Jolly and Gayatri against the Chinese team, who are ranked third in the world. The head-to-head record now stands at 2-1 in favour of the Chinese pair.
Jolly and Gayatri had defeated Ukraine's Polina Buhrova and Yevheniia Kantemyr 21-14, 21-13 in the first round.
In other matches, Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy are the only remaining Indian players in the mixed doubles event. They are set to play against the eighth-seeded Malaysian pair, Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie, later in the day.
