CHENNAI: It's a strange time for Ashwini Ponnappa. Under normal circumstances, she would have been crisscrossing the globe with her partner Sikki Reddy, attempting to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. But then, these are not normal times.
The COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown has meant that Ashwini is stuck at home in Bengaluru. “It’s strange to be home and not go out,” she says. “It’s strange that it’s been like that for a couple of weeks and we’re not really sure how long it’s going to be for. “I’m in Bengaluru right now. I got here immediately after the tournament (All England, where she and Sikki crashed out in the second round). I’m at home, I haven’t really met my family so it’s been just my husband and me. It’s very strange being in Bengaluru, having all this time and not really venturing out or meeting anyone. Normally, if I had the time, that’s the thing I would have done, calling people and spending time with family and friends. Fortunately, we have two dogs who are with us, so they’re keeping us well entertained.”
The Red Bull athlete, however, plans to make the most of the extra time she has and work on her fitness. “It’s all about making the most of the time you have at home,” she says. “Luckily in this day and age, there are a lot of exercises you can do at home. But I do miss going on court. As much as we can do home exercises, it’s just not the same as going on court. It’s harder when you’re at home and you have more time to be disciplined. I do try to wake up early and try and do some breathing exercises, stretches and strength training. I also do a bit of cardio. It’s all about doing things that can be done at home.”
If she needed any extra motivation, she has a steady source for that in the form of national coach P Gopichand. Ashwini and India’s other top shuttlers are in WhatsApp groups where Gopichand sends them routines to stick to. “We have our doubles group and the singles players have their own group,” she says. “The fact that we are getting daily updates and ideas as to what we can do at home is really encouraging and motivating. After that, I’ve started waking up early as before, I was sleeping really late and waking up really late. But he is quite particular that we all wake up early and stick to the routine and do our exercises. I think that really got me back on track and got me more motivated.
“Because of the fact that I have a calf muscle tear and knee tendinitis (injuries she sustained towards the end of last season), I am not following the entire routine. I need to be a little more careful when I’m home so I’ve modified it accordingly.”
After normalcy is restored, Ashwini will have her focus back on the Tokyo Games. While she is not sure how postponement of the Games will affect her and Sikki’s chances, she believes it was the right decision. “Given how bad things have been, I think it has been the right decision to postpone the Olympics,” she says.
“It is quite tough for players to focus on the Olympics. That will tempt players to do things that they wouldn’t be doing like getting outside because everyone wants to do well. Badminton, we hadn’t really finished our qualifying and we still had about 4-5 tournaments that were left.“Sikki and I, we hadn’t really qualified but we were hoping that we would fare well over the next 4-5 tournaments and there was a chance of qualifying. I think at the end of the day, it depends on what BWF decides on what the qualifying criteria are going to be.”