CHENNAI: Spare a thought for Ashwini Ponnappa. The shuttler is within reach of qualifying for the Tokyo Games in two events mixed and women’s doubles. But, with the World Badminton Federation (BWF) indefinitely postponing all events, Ponnappa has been left in the lurch. With no more events left inside the qualifying window, she knows she will miss the Olympics unless the BWF rejigs the qualifying format — the prospect of that happening is remote.
That being the case, the 31-year-old is more than entitled to feel aggrieved. However, she is more concerned about what her fellow Indians are going through at the moment. “As much as one might say it’s unfair, everything that’s happening with Covid is unfair,” she tells this daily. “I’m just thankful that I got to play a few tournaments, while so many players haven’t had any.”
That’s true. In fact, since the turn of the year there’s a case for saying Ponnappa has been the form player from an Indian perspective. She has reached three semifinals and two quarterfinals. When the subject of the BWF cancelling or postponing events is put to her, she doesn’t get bitter. What you get is a measured response from an athlete acknowledging the conditions of the outside world.
“Five big tournaments cancelled. Except for Asia everyone else had their continental championship. Our Asian badminton championship was cancelled too, so out of seven, five were called off. As much as it was a blow, in the current times it doesn’t seem like a big deal, especially with Covid being so bad in India and so many people having it so tough.”
Full story: newindianexpress.com