Shuttling their way to glory

Qualifying for the Olympics for your country is a big deal, and doing that twice in a row is on a different level — one that’s been achieved by Hyderabad’s own badminton stars Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. The duo will be representing the country in the women’s doubles category for badminton in Rio in August. The two believe that their past experience at the Olympics-level will help them this time around. Jwala says, “The journey was pretty tough, with not too much of support and you’re mostly on your own with your own belief. And you need to motivate yourself every day. But it’s also been fruitful. I’m very happy that we’ve qualified for the Olympics again. It’s a huge achievement for us.”

“It’s such a huge stage and it’ll be in a different venue in a different country... but I’m happy that we got the experience of the previous Olympics and this time, we’ll be going into each match with confidence,” adds Ashwini. The two have been training for seven hours daily under Malaysian coach Tan Kim Her. “The training is more organised, so there’s a lot more unity among the players. We’re all helping each other to do better, it’s a good atmosphere to play in right now,” adds Jwala.

Jwala’s experience on court only helps Ashwini, with the latter saying that her confidence helps her play a calmer game. “She’s very gutsy, brave, bold, confident and very sure of herself. And that comes out on court as well. It’s good to have someone like that to play with, as then you don’t have to worry about your partner because they’re confident enough to play,” says Ashwini.

Jwala adds that bonding with Ashwini while travelling has helped them understand each other better: “Even if I’m down, she’ll know how to cheer me up and get me back on track and I do the same with her. We need to understand that, because the game goes by so fast and we need to support each other.” The rise in the number of Indians taking to badminton, the two say, has helped the sport become popular in the country. But they also add that India has a long way to go before it’s even close to “sporting countries” like China and Korea. “Indians have been doing well, which motivates the juniors and gives them a lot of confidence to play well and beat the best when they go out for tournaments,” Ashwini says.

Jwala adds, “Most of our population are from  the lower (income) and lower-middle classes. We need to bring in talent from there and the only way we can do that is with the help of the government. We need to have a proper system in place, give them the incentives, make education free... so that even if they’re not able to do too well in sports, the education will allow them to lead a better life.”