Ashwini Ponnappa


Ashwini Ponnappa Machimanda 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 as the pair has won many medals in international events including a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and bronze medals at the Uber Cup and the Asian Badminton Championships. They were consistently ranked among the top 20 in the BWF World Ranking reaching as high as no. 10. Ponnappa and Gutta also won the bronze medal at the BWF World Championships in 2011, becoming the first Indian pair and women and only the second overall to win a medal at the World Championships.

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. On June 29, 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. 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.

Personal life

On 24 December 2017, she married businessman and model Karan Medappa. Her favourite author is Nicholas Sparks and her favourite movie is the 2013 romantic-comedy Begin Again. Her favourite badminton strike is the smash.

Achievements

BWF World Championships

Women's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2011Wembley Arena, London, England Jwala Gutta Tian Qing
Zhao Yunlei		14–21, 16–21 Bronze

Commonwealth Games

Women's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2018Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre,
Gold Coast, Australia		 N. Sikki Reddy Setyana Mapasa
Gronya Somerville		21–19, 21–19 Bronze
2014Emirates Arena,
Glasgow, Scotland		 Jwala Gutta Vivian Kah Mun Hoo
Woon Khe Wei		17–21, 21–23 Silver
2010Siri Fort Sports Complex,
New Delhi, India		 Jwala Gutta Shinta Mulia Sari
Yao Lei		21–16, 21–19 Gold

Asian Championships

Women's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2014Gimcheon Indoor Stadium,
Gimcheon, South Korea		 Jwala Gutta Luo Ying
Luo Yu		12–21, 7–21 Bronze

South Asian Games

Women's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2016Multipurpose Hall SAI-SAG Centre,
Shillong, India		 Jwala Gutta N. Sikki Reddy
K. Maneesha		21–9, 21–17 Gold
2010Wooden-Floor Gymnasium,
Dhaka, Bangladesh		 P. C. Thulasi Aparna Balan
Shruti Kurien		19–21, 20–22 Silver

Mixed doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2016Multipurpose Hall SAI-SAG Centre,
Shillong, India		 Manu Attri Pranav Chopra
N. Sikki Reddy		29–30, 17–21 Silver
2010Wooden-Floor Gymnasium,
Dhaka, Bangladesh		 Valiyaveetil Diju Sanave Thomas
Aparna Balan		21–11, 21–15 Gold

BWF World Tour

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.
Women's doubles
YearTournamentLevelPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2019Hyderabad OpenSuper 100 N. Sikki Reddy Baek Ha-na
Jung Kyung-eun		17–21, 17–21 Runner-up
2018Syed Modi InternationalSuper 300 N. Sikki Reddy Chow Mei Kuan
Lee Meng Yean		15–21, 13–21 Runner-up

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation since 2007.
Women's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2017Syed Modi International N. Sikki Reddy Kamilla Rytter Juhl
Christinna Pedersen		16–21, 18–21 Runner-up
2015Canada Open Jwala Gutta Eefje Muskens
Selena Piek		21–19, 21–16 Winner
2010India Open Jwala Gutta Shinta Mulia Sari
Yao Lei		11–21, 21–9, 15–21 Runner-up

Mixed doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2017Syed Modi International B. Sumeeth Reddy Pranaav Jerry Chopra
N. Sikki Reddy		20–22, 10–21 Runner-up

BWF International Challenge/Series

Women's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2008Bahrain International Trupti Murgunde16–21, 13–21 Runner-up

Women's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2019Maldives International N. Sikki Reddy Sayaka Hobara
Natsuki Sone		10–21, 21–17, 12–21 Runner-up
2016Welsh International N. Sikki Reddy Anastasia Chervyakova
Olga Morozova		16–21, 11–21 Runner-up
2013Tata India International Jwala Gutta Pradnya Gadre
N. Sikki Reddy		19–21, 19–21 Runner-up

Mixed doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2013Tata India International Tarun Kona Akshay Dewalkar
Pradnya Gadre		17–21, 21–18, 18–21 Runner-up

Record against selected opponents

Women's doubles results with Jwala Gutta against Super Series finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists.