Badminton player Ashwini Ponnappa speaks about her plans for the Olympics, sporting rivalry and how the league format has changed sports in the country. Excerpts…
GAME PLAN FOR THE OLYMPICS
The last time, Jwala (Gutta) and I waited for the last tournament to actually secure a spot in the Olympics. This time, we’re kind of there, but there are a couple of tournaments left and anything could happen because we have a lot of players behind us who are from different countries, who do have a chance of getting ahead of us. So we’re aiming to be in the top 10 by the end of the qualifying period.
LEAGUE MATCHES HAVE CHANGED THE SPORTS CULTURE IN INDIA
Now you can go and watch sports for entertainment. In the past, you only had leagues on TV, but now you can go to the stadium and watch the matches, and it’s got a festive feel. One of the nice things is that it’s taken different sports to different cities. So people watch live action in front of them, as opposed to watching it on TV. You have top sports stars playing in front of you, and it’s always fun to go and watch that because it’s totally different when you’re watching it on TV. These sports (badminton, tennis, football and kabaddi) have got more of a fan following now because of that.
PLAYING ON THE SAME TEAM AS YOUR OPPONENTS
The leagues have also given us an opportunity to interact and mingle with players from other countries who we’d normally see only on the other side of the court. That’s not something that usually happens because otherwise, you’re playing for your respective countries. But now, the league has given us a chance to make new friends, learn different things about each other and find out how training is in their country.
MATCH EXPOSURE IS IMPORTANT
I had said earlier that training, for Jwala and me, was difficult, since we lacked support in terms of not having a professional doubles coach or a centre with sparring partners where the two of us could train together. Now, we do have training in Hyderabad, so I go there. But with leagues like this, you get a lot of match exposure, which is really important for your sport and it helps you get better.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> Sports> Badminton / by Anjali Muthanna / TNN / January 18th, 2016
