New Delhi: Jwala Gutta is all set to pair up with Ashwini Ponnappa with whom she last played in the London Olympics last year. They have pulled out some brilliant victories, including those of World Championships and the Commonwealth Games and have been the country’s most successful pair so far. However they had parted ways after the Olympics last year.
With this move, they would be fancying their chances of bringing back much more glory to the Indian Badminton which is ascending in the popularity chart with the likes of Saian Nehwal and PV Sindhu doing quite well at international stage.
Both the shuttlers felt quite disrespected after their base prices in the auction of Indian Badminton League were slashed from $ 50,000 to $ 25,000 without their prior knowledge. Had they continued playing as a pair, this might not have happened and the most important reason for their tie-up is their recent failure in World Badminton Championship in Guangzhou where they failed to replicate the success story of 2011 of claiming the bronze.
Ashwini had a terrible run in the World Championships as she lost both her matches. She lost the women's doubles in the company of Pradnya Gadre and later failed to make an impact in the mixed doubles with Tarun Kona. The women's doubles pair of Aparna Balan and Siki Reddy and the mixed doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan also had the same fate in Guangzhou.
Over the past few months, the 29-year-old Jwala had also parted her ways with her long-time mixed doubles partner Valiyaveetil Diju and had paired up with Prajakta Sawant for the India Open. Later she decided to play with Manu Atri in mixed doubles.
