‘We had no choice’

Their misunderstandings and “fights” have made national news. But whether they like it or not, Jwala Gutta and P. Gopichand will be seeing more of each other.
Jwala and her doubles partner Ashwini Ponappa will be training under India’s new doubles coach Kim Tan Her, and the venue is none other than Gopichand’s academy in the city.

Jwala, who has always been very open about her views, says, “We didn’t have a choice for the venue. It was in the Malaysian coach’s contract that the venue had to be Gopi’s academy. But I’m definitely looking forward to the training sessions.”

The Malaysian coach had apparently made it clear that the training would be nowhere else but at Gopichand’s academy. But Jwala and Ashwini had asked for an option on the venue. “Of course we had asked for another venue. Somehow I even thought that we could train in Bengaluru. I was actually quite surprised that his contract had the obligation for the training ground to be Gopi’s academy only,” says Jwala.

Does this signal that two of the top names of badminton in the country, who are both from the city, will finally be okay being under the same roof? “I just don’t agree with some of his views and I have been very open about them.

Who knows, now maybe I would even stop by and say thank you. But for now, I’m happy to be attending the national camp. The government is spending so much money on us and as a player, I think it’s my right to attend the camp wherever it’s happening,” she says.

Will there be a separate venue inside the academy for them? “I have no clue yet. The training starts next week and it will continue till the Olympics,” she says.
Meanwhile, Gopichand says, “I’m happy and Jwala is most welcome to train at the academy. I think it will be great as we have an excellent  coach here to train them.”