BANGALORE: For India’s badminton doubles exponent Ashwini Ponnappa, the journey begins from Chandini Chowk to China.
After her morale-boosting victory at the Commonwealth Games, the Kodava lass is armoured with confidence and the courage to take the best of the bests when she serves for India in the badminton doubles event when the Asian Games gets underway at Guangzhou, from November 12-27.
Her victory with Jwala Gutta at CWG, her breakthrough event, has made a world of change for this youngster from realising her credentials to boosting her confidence. “After the CWG gold winning show my game really matured and confident. We are physically and mentally all set to go to China,” Ashwini told Express before taking the flight to China on Monday.
Ashwini, who had little time to iron out her edges for the China bash, believes her earlier work out for the CWG will hold her good. “We really didn’t have that much of a time to practice after the Commonwealth Games. We practiced very hard for the CWG and after that we trained for a shorter period which is good enough for the Asiad,” she felt.
Ashwini has won the gold medal at the South Asian Games in 2006, and was a trainee of badminton legend Prakash Padukone. After finishing her pre-university at Mount Carmel College, she moved to Hyderabad to train under Pulella Gopichand. The 21-year-old is currently pursuing B Com in St Mary’s College, Hyderabad.
Ashwini, who is making her first appearance at the Asiad, said that it would be tough to repeat her CWG feat , but she has set her eyes on the yellow metal. “It will be difficult but I hope to do well at the Asiad and win the gold. This is my first Asiad and I am looking forward to it .I am sure I will do well.”
Asked to choose her biggest rival, Ashwini said every player can pause a threat and cannot be taken lightly. “Every player is good so we cannot take anyone lightly. So we got to go there and play our game if we have to beat the best,” she noted.
Ashwini and Jwala teamed-up after the latter’s split with her long-time women’s partner Shruti Kurian after the Indian Open Grand Prix in Hyderabad last year. This association has worked wonders for Ashwini. She rates her partnership with Jwala has helped her to graduate to the next level. “It’s great to have her as my partner, her experience helps me a lot to improve my skills and take me to the next level. I admire the effort she puts on every single game and every single shot. She brings a lot to my game,” she said.
Their partnership is not just confined to the court but off it too, they are good pals. “She is a brilliant player. She is calm confident and she listens to me when ever I have to say something. Our communication is good on and off the court. We hardly get time to meet but whenever we do so, we catch up with each other,” Ashwini said.
If not for badminton, what would Ashwini have taken to? “I have been playing badminton for a long time now. Badminton is my first priority. If not for badminton I would have take up some other sport like athletics,” she said adding “I started playing at the age of 8 when my parents asked me to take up badminton and eventually fell in love with it.”
Ashwini, daughter of former Karnataka hockey player Ponnappa, said her attack is her master weapon. “My attack is good and defence is not as good as the offense,” she said.
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