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.
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".
Young shuttler Tanisha Crasto believes she and doubles partner Ashwini Ponnappa have the game to match the world's best.
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.
The seventh seeded Indians made good starts but couldn't sustain the pressure in the opening game.
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.
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.
Fresh from her triumphant exploits with senior partner Jwala Gutta in the Canadian Open, shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa said the ace Indian doubles pair was now aiming to break into the top ten while qualifying for next year's Rio Olympic Games.
World No 26 Satwik and Ashwini showed their grit as they recovered from a mid-game slump to outwit the sixth seeded Indonesian pair
Pune Pistons clinched a thrilling 3-2 victory on day one of the inaugural Indian Badminton League in New Delhi, on Wednesday after the mixed doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen got the better of Jwala Gutta and Kien Keat Koo of Krissh Delhi Smashers.
Indian mixed doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa shocked Commonwealth Games silver medallists England's Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the $ 1 million China Open
Already out of medal contention, India's women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered their third successive loss in their final Group A match against Thailand's Supajirakul Puttita and Taerattanachai Sapsiree in the badminton event.
After much dilly-dallying, the Sports Ministry has included Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in the 'Target Olympic Podium Scheme' (TOP) scheme, putting an end to the controversy surrounding the doubles duo's complaint of bias against the Ministry and chief national coach Pullela Gopichand.
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.
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.
The Commonwealth Games' gold medal-winning pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa went down fighting in the Indian Open Super Series badminton at the Siri Fort Complex, in New Delhi, on Thursday. The eighth seeded Indian duo lost 20-22, 18-21 to Eei Hui Chin and Pei Tty Wong of Malaysia.
'We both are big foodies. We make it a point to go out and try different food after our matches.'
The Indian men's and women's doubles teams crashed out of the World Badminton Championships after losing their respective third-round matches in Paris. After making it to the quarter-finals in the mixed doubles, Jwala Gutta failed to repeat the performance with Ashwini Ponnappa in the women's doubles, going down to sixth seeds Jung Eun Ha and Ming Jung Kim 21-14, 21-15.
India's challenge at the Korean Open ended after the women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost their quarter-final match in the Super Series tournament in Seoul on Friday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal survived a scare from lower-ranked Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand before reaching the second round of the All England Championship in Birmingham.
Top shuttlers Ashwini Ponnappa and Lakshya Sen are among 20-odd Indian players who have started training at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru as the sport took its first step towards resumption after the COVID-19 hiatus. Confined to their homes for more than two months due to the nationwide lockdown to contain the health crisis, the shuttlers started training at PPBA after the Sports Authority of India (SAI) laid down rules for resumption of training late last month.
Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up a comfortable straight-game victory over Lei Yao and Shinta Mulia Sari of Singapore in their last group B match but still failed to enter the quarter-finals of the London Olympics.
Rio-bound Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will look to boost their confidence ahead of the Olympic Games when they start their title defence at the Canada Open badminton tournament, starting in Calgary on Tuesday. 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallists, Jwala and Ashwini didn't have the best results in the run up to the Rio Olympics and the duo will look to put their best foot forward when they take the court here with just a little more than a month to go for the Games.
Priyanshu toiled hard for one hour 14 minutes before losing 21-18, 14-21, 17-21.
India's women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa crashed out of the Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold on Thursday after suffering a straight-game defeat against the Malaysian pair of Hui Ern Ng and Hui Lin Ng in the second round in Saarbrucken, Germany.
P V Sindhu stormed into the third round of the World Badminton Championships with a straight-games victory over Olga Golovanova of Russia, in Copenhagen, on Wednesday.
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.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy scored a stunning straight games victory over world No. 18 Li Wenmei and Zheng Yu to make it to the second round in the women's doubles at the US $350,000 India Open, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
- 'We need the government to support us with funds' - 'If government does not fund, lot of players will be lost. We are really depending on the government' - 'Before Olympics, any tournament we play and win is great. But, the ultimate goal is Olympics'
HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu is set to lead India's charge at the upcoming Sudirman Cup.
The experienced Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were eliminated from the women's doubles at the Rio Olympics after losing their second successive Group A match on Friday. In a rollercoaster game against the Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek, Jwala and Ashwini went down 16-21, 21-16, 17-21 in 48 minutes.
Later in the day, the new women's doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 13-21, 18-21 to Japan's Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the quarter-finals, bringing down the curtain on India's campaign.
India's women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa started their campaign with a dominating straight-game win in the opening round of the Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold in Saarbrucken, Germany.
Lakshya Sen registered an easy 21-9, 21-15 win over Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in his pre-quarterfinal match.
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.
Ace shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa, on Wednesday, said that Indians do not do well in mixed doubles in the international stage as the male partners always want his female team-mate to play in a fixed position.
The Chirag-Satwik pair won the Thailand Open in May to reclaim the No.1 ranking but suffered loss of form and made a first-round exit from the Singapore Open last month.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the second round of French Open Super 750 badminton tournament.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have regained their top spot following their Thailand Open title triumph on Sunday.
On Friday, Supanida Katethong came out on top against Indian star PV Sindhu in an intense quarter-final battle in which the Thai shuttler emerged 24-26, 21-17, 22-20 winner in one hour and 17 minutes.
