Badminton: Treesa-Gayatri beat higher-ranked Japanese pair in Kumamoto opener

Kumamoto (Japan), Nov 10 (UNI) India's Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand defeated higher-ranked Japanese pair Hinata Suzuki and Nao Yamakita to reach the women's doubles pre-quarterfinals at the Kumamoto Masters Japan 2026 badminton tournament on Tuesday. The world No. 20 Indian pair beat their 13th-ranked opponents 21-17, 21-14 in 42 minutes in the opening round of the BWF Super 500 badminton tournament at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium. This was the first meeting between the two pairs, according to olympics.com. Suzuki and Yamakita, who won the Canada Open earlier this year, finished runners-up at the Denmark Open Super 750 last month.…