Who is Ashwini Ponnappa ???

She is an Indian badminton player. She won the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow in 2014.

(born 18 September 1989) is an Indian badminton player who represents the country at the international badminton circuit in both the women’s and mixed doubles disciplines. She had a successful partnership with Jwala Gutta the pair has won many medals in international events .

She represent the country in the women’s and mixed doubles or both disciplines in the international badminton circuit. Due to her successful partnership with Jwala Gutta, she has won many medals in international competitions including a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the Uber Chaskar and Asian Badminton Championships.

Recently

Ashwini recently qualified for the women’s doubles event with Tanisha Crasto 2024 . The women’s duo are India’s highest-ranked pair at world No. 20.

For the upcoming Paris Olympics, which are slated to kick off on July 26, Ashwini feels India has a strong contingent, which raises the possibility of India walking away with a medal in the sport.

“Currently, definitely yes. We have, like, one of the best doubles pair in men’s doubles who have qualified. Satwik and Chirag are world no. 1 due to the fact that they have qualified for the Olympics and won so many tournaments.

“We are looking at getting a medal there and having said that, Sindhu is a two time Olympian. We have got two men singles who qualified for the Olympics for the first time and, of course, are going in for my third Olympics.

“I think it is pretty exciting to be a part of a contingent that is so strong and so full of possibilities for winning an Olympic medal,” Ashwini told ANI.

India have three medals in badminton till now in the history of the Summer Games. PV Sindhu is a two-time Olympic medallist, with a silver and a bronze medal. While, Saina Nehwal bagged India’s first medal in badminton at the Olympics, after her opponent, China’s Wang Xin, was forced to retire hurt. Saina claimed a bronze medal and etched her name in the record books.

Ashwini feels that India will have a shot at changing the colour of the medal, especially with the form that world no. 1 duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have displayed recently.

Early life

Ashwini Ponnappa was born on 18 September 1989 in Bangalore. She was educated at St. Francis Xavier Girls High School, Bangalore and at  St. Mary’s College, Hyderabad. Her father played hockey for India. However Ashwini preferred badminton over hockey and started training in badminton.

Career

In 2001, Ashwini Ponnappa won her first national title in 2004 in the sub-junior girls’ doubles category. She also won the national title in sub-junior girls’ doubles in 2005, and the Junior girls’ doubles National title in 2006 and 2007. She won the gold medal in mixed doubles and the team events at the South Asian Games held in 2010. In the 2010 Commonwealth Games, she won the gold medal in Women’s Doubles event pairing with Jwala Gutta, making history by winning the first gold medal for India in the event. Gutta and Ponnappa became household names after winning the medal in front of home crowd.

Later on in 2011 they came up with one of their finest performances when she and Gutta etched their names in history books becoming the first Indian pair to ensure a medal at the World Badminton Championships. The pair defeated 12th seeds Vita Marrisa and Nadya Melati of Indonesia 17–21, 21–10, 21–17 to storm into the women’s doubles semifinal before losing out to Chinese fifth seeds in the semis in London, thereby winning a bronze in the Badminton. World Championship.

She participated in the women’s doubles at the 2012 London Olympics. Ponnappa and Gutta lost their opening women’s doubles match against the Japanese duo of Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa. They then went on to beat much higher ranked Wen Hsing Cheng and Yu Chin Chien of Chinese Taipei 25–23, 16–21, 21–18 to register their first win in the group stages

Jwala and Ashwini missed out on a quarterfinal berth by a difference of just one point, even though they beat Shinta Mulia Sari and Lei Yao of Singapore 21–16 21–15 in their last group B match, after tying with Japan and Taipei on the number of wins. Prior to India’s final group game on Tuesday night, the World number five Japanese pair of Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa had shockingly lost to Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Wen Hsing and Chien Yu Chin, ranked 10th, 19–21 11–21. India lodged a formal protest with the Games organizers to probe if the women’s doubles badminton match involving Japan and Chinese Taipei was played in the right spirit, following the elimination of medal hopes Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa but no action was taken.

Following the Olympic Games Jwala went to a temporary sabbatical from the game. Ponnappa then partnered Pradnya Gadre for a brief period of time in 2013 and then re-united with Jwala later in the year. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Ponnappa and Gutta won the silver medal in the women’s doubles, losing to a Malaysian pair in the final.[3] On 29 June 2015, playing with Jwala, they won the Canada Open women’s doubles title by defeating the top-seeded Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek.

She competed with Gutta at the 2016 Olympics, but they lost all three of their group stage matches and therefore did not progress further.[5] At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Ponnappa was part of the Indian team which won gold in the mixed team event, and won bronze with N. Sikki Reddy in the women’s doubles.

Medal record

Women’s badminton
Representing  India
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place2011 LondonWomen’s doubles
Uber Cup
Bronze medal – third place2014 New DelhiWomen’s team
Bronze medal – third place2016 KunshanWomen’s team
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place2010 DelhiWomen’s doubles
Gold medal – first place2018 Gold CoastMixed team
Silver medal – second place2010 DelhiMixed team
Silver medal – second place2014 GlasgowWomen’s doubles
Silver medal – second place2022 BirminghamMixed team
Bronze medal – third place2018 Gold CoastWomen’s doubles
Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place2014 IncheonWomen’s team
Asian Championships
Bronze medal – third place2014 GimcheonWomen’s doubles
Asia Team Championships
Gold medal – first place2024 SelangorWomen’s team
South Asian Games
Gold medal – first place2010 DhakaMixed doubles
Gold medal – first place2010 DhakaWomen’s team
Gold medal – first place2016 Guwahati–ShillongWomen’s doubles
Gold medal – first place2016 Guwahati–ShillongWomen’s team
Silver medal – second place2010 DhakaWomen’s doubles
Silver medal – second place2016 Guwahati–ShillongMixed doubles

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