Ashwini Ponnappa was born on September 18, 1989, and rose to fame as an Indian badminton player. She is considered to be one of the elite players to come out of India and currently represents her country in the international circuit for both women and mixed-doubles disciplines.Â
Ashwini’s father was a national hockey player so athletics ran in her blood. From an early age she began to play badminton She won the junior championships in India at just the age of 12. Pairing up with
Jwala Gutta
she won the gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which was India’s first at the event. The pair then rose to more fame in 2011 when they ensured India its first medal at the World Badminton Championships. They lost to Chinese mixed-double team in the semi-finals of the championship after defeating Vita Marrisa and Nadya Melati from Indonesia.Â
In the 2012 Olympics in London Ashwini and Gutta’s performance could not live up to its name as the pair lost its first match and was unable to make the quarterfinal berth. Through hard work and dedication she is currently ranked at number 21 in women’s double ranking and obtained her highest ranking in 2010 at 13.