We’re headed in right direction: Ashwini Ponnappa

All excited to make her second straight Olympics, Ashwini Ponnappa is confident of putting up a strong show at Rio along with doubles partner Jwala Gutta.

The Bengaluru shuttler has come a long way from the London Olympics where the duo were unable to secure a medal. Having split with her partner just after the Games before reuniting again, the duo has made steady progress, despite ups and downs en route to their second Olympics.

The 26-year-old is gearing up for the quadrennial event along with Jwala, training under doubles specialist coach Tan Kim.

“I am confident heading into the tournament. It’s our second time at the Olympics,” said Ashwini.

“But whether it’s first or second really doesn’t matter. It will always have the same value as the previous one. But yes, we will probably have a slight advantage. It definitely helps us as we know how the environment will be and what to expect. I am as excited as I was the last time and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Having stumbled in their pursuit of a medal in the previous edition, the Hyderabad-based shuttler is hoping for a better outing this time. “We would obviously love to win, at least return home with a medal. We have been training very hard in Hyderabad and things are looking pretty good. We have a few tournaments coming up before Rio. And then we still will have a few weeks just to train.”

The doubles specialist believes having a specialist coach is helping them up their game.

“It has helped a lot. We train together and I feel we are headed in the right direction. He has been travelling with us and having him around has been made a good impact,” said Ashwini, who endorses Red Bull.

On the level of competition, she felt, “In a tournament of this scale you cannot underestimate anyone, because everyone will be giving their best. But yes, we are definitely most wary of the Chinese. They are going to be the most difficult opponents.”

Heading into the Olympics, India are fielding a bigger contingent in badminton as a total of seven shuttlers have made the cut as opposed to the previous edition’s five and this subsequently “increases the medal chances”.