Jwala Gutta gears up for doubles duty after CWG silver
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, probably know it better than most others.
By : gandharv jain
Update: 2014-08-07 06:04 GMT
Hyderabad:You win some, you lose some. That’s sport. You can play brilliantly throughout a tournament but stumble at the final hurdle. Indian badminton women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who won silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, probably know it better than most others.
The pair are not disheartened though. “I would not say that something went wrong somewhere but that was just not our day. We played really well throughout the tournament but lost the final,” Jwala said here on Wednesday.
“Entering the tournament as the defending champions was a bit of added pressure on us and it did sort of get into us,” she added.The pair have done well since the time renewing their partnership in October last year. On the way to the Games they won two bronze medals and looked to defend their title at Glasgow.
“Myself and Jwala have done quite well. We managed to put our past behind us and get along really well and also won two bronze medals and looked certain, well almost certain, to strike gold at the Games but it didn’t quite work that way in the final,” Ashwini said.
Jwala, who was not allowed to represent the country sometime back, played it down though. “I always let my racquet and my medal do to the talking. I went there to play hard and win a medal for my country which I have done. And as long as I am fit enough to play I will deliver results and play for my country,” she said.
With an action packed year ahead, how did the players deal with exhaustion? “I don’t really do anything extra apart from the regular routine. I will start my training in a couple days and try to keep myself fit both mentally and physically,” Ashwini said.
“For me it’s all about being in the right mindset and I will start my training from tomorrow and will make sure to give my best at the World Championships,” she added.Indian shuttlers have done well in individual events and the women’s doubles but things have not quite worked well in the team events, especially the mixed-doubles.
“India does not have players who are good at mixed doubles. The officials thought that the players who regularly played mixed doubles in the national arena were not good enough to represent the country at the Games,” Jwala said.
“It’s a pity that in an event (the mixed doubles) where we won silver in the last Commonwelath Games (in Delhi) we could not manage to put up a team in this edition,” she added.