'I have funded myself for tournaments until Nov last year, after which I was sent with the Indian team for tournaments as I met the selection criteria to make the team. I was included as part of TOPS scheme only after qualifying for the Paris 2024 Games till the Olympic Games, that's it.'
Shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa believes that the Indian contingent has a strong shot at changing the colour of the medal in the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Indian Badminton player Ashwini Ponnappa on Sunday got married to businessman and model Karan Medappa at a ceremony in Karnataka's Coorg.
'Head out!' 'It has been a long time that we have not met family and friends.'
And, run to the court.'
Indian badminton stalwart Ashwini Ponnappa broke down in tears, announcing she has played her last Olympics after she and her partner Tanisha Crasto suffered their third straight defeat in the women's doubles competition of the Paris Games.
The top-seeded duo, who also competed at the Paris Olympics, showcased a dominant performance to outclass Li and Wang 21-18, 21-12 in the summit clash that lasted 43 minutes.
Lakshya Sen moved a place to world number 17, despite not competing in the last two weeks.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty sailed to the semifinals with a straight-game win over Malaysians Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap
The seasoned Ashwini Ponnappa and her partner Rohan Kapoor entered the second round in the mixed doubles on the opening day of the Syed Modi India International badminton event in Lucknow on Tuesday.
India's men's singles campaign suffered a setback as none of the players could make it past the opening round on Day 2 of the India Open in New Delhi on Wednesday.
This was their third semifinal appearance on the BWF Tour this season, having earlier reached the last four at the Singapore Open and India Open.
Sindhu, Lakshya to head India's campaign at Asian C'ships
Lakshya Sen shrugged off the cancellation of his opening match win and defeated Julien Carraggi of Belgium in straight games
India's Lakshya Sen got off the a rousing start at the Olympics, beating Guatemala's Kevin Cordon 21-8, 22-20 in the men's singles badminton competition on Saturday.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered a straight-game defeat in the third round of the women's doubles competition to crash out of $600,000 Korea Open Super Series badminton tournament.
A sensational run over the last two weeks has given wings to Ashwini Ponnappa's Olympics dreams, and the ace Indian shuttler now wants to continue her fine run in the upcoming bigger tournaments to stay on course for a trip to Paris.
Tanisha and Ashwini will face the winner of the other semifinal between Taiwanese pair of Sung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui in the final on Sunday.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa progressed to the semi-finals of the Canada Open badminton tournament after claiming straight sets win over Chan Kaka Tsz Ka and Yuen Sin Ying in their women's doubles contest.
Malvika, the only Indian woman left in the singles draw, overcame Karupathevan Letshanaa of Malaysia 21-12, 21-16.
The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty crashed out in the second round of the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament on Thursday. Sen lost to Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in three games, while Satwik and Chirag lost a close match against Thai combination of Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh.
Satwiksairaj and Ashwini showed top-notch fighting spirit before going down
The Paris Olympics was a challenging chapter for Tanisha and all other Indian shuttlers as India returned without a medal for the first time in 12-years.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty assured India of a medal at the World Championships after defeating Malaysia's two-time Olympic medallists Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, in the quarter-finals in Paris.
This was the third title for the Indian duo -- they had clinched the Abu Dhabi Masters Super 100 and Nantes International Challenge this year.
Young shuttler Tanisha Crasto believes she and doubles partner Ashwini Ponnappa have the game to match the world's best.
The Indian combination of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa disappointed in their opening outing in the women's doubles at the Rio Olympics badminton event, losing in straight games to the world No. 1 Japanese pair of Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsumoto on Thursday.
Indian shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won the Canada Open women's doubles title after upstaging the top-seeded Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in the summit clash in Calgary.
India's Jwala Gutta on Tuesday confirmed she will reunite with former partner Ashwini Ponnappa.
'We both are big foodies. We make it a point to go out and try different food after our matches.'
The seventh seeded Indians made good starts but couldn't sustain the pressure in the opening game.
Indian shuttlers had a relatively good day in office at the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament in Jakarta on Wednesday, with the women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa and the men's team of Manu Attri-B Sumeeth Reddy progressing to the second round.
Ashwini and Tanisha, who won the Guwahati Masters super 100 title, last month will take on Malaysia's Pei Kee Go and Mei Xing Teoh next.
India's formidable duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced to the women's doubles quarter-finals of the China Open badminton after eking out an easy 21-9, 21-12 victory over Iris Wang and Rena Wang of USA, in Shanghai, on Thursday.
Priyanshu Rajawat suffered a 13-21, 14-21, loss to Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama, while Aakarshi Kashyap went down 18-21, 10-21 to German Yvonne Li.
A wrong umpiring decision dashed P Kashyap's hopes of a maiden Commonwealth Games final but Saina Nehwal and women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa assured India of silver medals after advancing to the finals of the badminton event in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Disappointed over their base price in Monday's players' auction being slashed at the last minute, doubles specialists Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa declared that the Indian Badminton League's decision was "disrespectful" and "absurd".
National coach Pullela Gopichand on Wednesday defended Indian Badminton League's decision to reduce the base price of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa before the IBL Players' auction, saying it was done so that the doubles specialists do not incur financial loss.
Bubbling with new-found confidence after a successful Sudirman Cup campaign, promising women's doubles shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa said she and her partner Jwala Gutta can hope to be among the world's top-10 by the end of this year.
Owing to their good performances in the Sudirman Cup in China, India's women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa zoomed to 22nd place, while P Kashyap moved to the 23rd spot in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday.
World No 26 Satwik and Ashwini showed their grit as they recovered from a mid-game slump to outwit the sixth seeded Indonesian pair
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