With the Sports Ministry set to include Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme.
India's mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju are virtually out of the reckoning at the London Olympics. They suffered yet another straight-games defeat in their second group match in the badminton competition at the Wembley arena on Sunday.
The badminton ace's fuchsia gown resonated with her personality.
Indian shuttlers had a dismal day in Asian Games on Thursday as men's singles player Aravind Bhat and mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju crashed out of the badminton competition at Guangzhou.
Commonwealth Games gold-winning shuttler Jwala Gutta said she played with a vengeance at the mega-event to shut the mouths of all those critics who were spreading "baseless" stories of her link-up with former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal exited from the China Masters Super Series, but the top mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju kept the tricolour fluttering after a thrilling victory to advance to the semi-finals at Changzhou on Friday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Indian mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju suffered a straight-game defeat at the hands of top seeded Danish duo of Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen in the summit clash of the World Super Series Masters Finals in Johor Bahru.
Jwala Gutta knows competing at the London Olympics could be quite nerve-wracking but the Indian ace shuttler said she is ready for the challenge as she is not scared of losing and believes in working hard.
The Indian challenge ended in the French Super Series badminton tournament after Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju crashed out following defeats in the quarter-finals in Paris. Eighth seed Saina squandered a first game lead and went down to top seed Chinese Wang Lin 21-15, 11-21, 15-21 in a 49-minute battle in the women's singles on Friday.
Shuttler Jwala Gutta has not yet received any official communication from the Badminton Association of India (BAI) on the reported move to impose life ban on her, but she will seek legal recourse upon getting it, her father Kranti said.
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa's dream run at the World Badminton Championships came to an end in the semi-finals but the pair managed to script history by claiming a bronze medal for India in the prestigious event after a gap of 28 years.
Jwala Gutta and Diju Valiyaveetil's dreams of winning their first Grand Prix gold went up in smoke as the Indian mixed doubles pair suffered a straight games defeat against Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa of Indonesia in the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open final in Hyderabad on Sunday. The error-prone second seeded Indian pair lost 14-21, 17-21 to the third seeded Indonesians.
Struggling with a sore back, ace shuttler V Diju and his mixed doubles partner Jwala Gutta suffered a straight-game defeat to South Korea's Sung Hyun Ko and Jung Eun in the quarter-finals of the World badminton Championships in Paris on Friday. The ninth seed Indians lost 16-21, 19-21 to the 12th seeds in a 31-minute battle, ending India's hopes in the mixed doubles category.
Expressing confidence that she would do well in next month's Olympics, ace shuttler Jwala Gutta said she is focusing on her fitness to be battle-ready for the London Games.
On a sweet-sour day for India, Saina Nehwal crashed out of the women's singles but the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju earned a shot at the World Super Series Masters title, in Johor Bahru.
Embattled shuttler Jwala Gutta is surprised that India's chief badminton coach, Pullela Gopichand, is still silent on the proposed life ban on her by the Badminton Association of India for alleged breach of discipline.
Saina Nehwal's quarter-final jinx at the World Badminton Championships continued, as the ace Indian shuttler suffered a straight-games defeat to world No 3 Wang Xin and bowed out of the women's singles at Wembley Arena, London, on Friday. Jwala Gutta and Ashiwni Ponnappa, however, scripted history, becoming India's first-ever women's doubles pair to make it to the semi-finals of a World Championships.
And sharing their warm greetings on Diwali were our sports stars, who took to social media to wish their fans on the auspicious occasion.
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.
Olympic-bound shuttlers Jwala Gutta and V Diju on Friday crashed out of the Singapore Open Super Series -- their last tournament before London Olympics -- after going down fighting to second seeds Hung Ling Chen and Wen Hsing Cheng of Chinese Taipei in a thrilling three-game quarterfinal match.
The new BWF rule which makes wearing skirts on court mandatory for female shuttlers from May 1 is something that the Indian eves are finding it a bit uncomfortable.
Parupalli Kashyap's participation in the men's singles and Jwala Gutta's entry in the women's and mixed doubles at the London Olympics badminton event were confirmed after the world rankings were issued on Thursday.
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.
The Indian mixed doubles team of V Diju and Jwala Gutta eased into the third round beating Malaysia's Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh at the World badminton Championships in Paris, on Tuesday.
In 2002 Manchester, she was a novice taking her first steps in badminton but eight years down the line, Jwala Gutta is one of the best medal prospects for India at the Commonwealth Games and the 27-year-old says she will not let her country down.
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.
Indian campaign in the World Super Series Masters Final got off to a disappointing start with ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju biting dust in their first outing in Johor Bahru on Wednesday.
Parupalli Kashyap stands just one victory away from winning a historic gold after notching up an energy-sapping three-game victory over England's Rajiv Ouseph but P V Sindhu suffered a heart-breaking loss in the women's semi-final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, on Saturday.
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.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal survived a mighty scare from unheralded Ayane Kurihara of Japan before advancing to the quarter-finals of China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou on Thursday. The fifth seed Indian won 21-11, 18-21, 27-25 in a marathon women's singles encounter that lasted 72 minutes, at the Xincheng Gymnasium.
India's leading mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju will not participate in the India Open Super Series as the latter had to undergo minor surgery on his troublesome back.
Jwala Gutta will become the first Indian to qualify for two events -- mixed and women's doubles -- in the Olympics when the World rankings are out next week and the doubles specialist said she was delighted and hoped to bring laurels to the country at the London Games.
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.
Brimming with confidence after becoming the first Indian mixed doubles pair to win a Grand Prix Gold title in Chinese Taipei, Jwala Gutta and V Diju have now set their eyes on cracking the top-five of world ranking by the year end.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty maintained their unbeaten run to storm into the knock-out stage of the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals, beating arch-rivals Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in their final Group B match, in Hangzhou, on Friday.
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.
