Jwala Gutta: Castigated badminton queen or unfortunate victim of her own doing

Crucified star or flippant celebrity?

So as one would notice reading through the various transgressions, while a few of the instances may have been created by the media, it is Jwala who has whole-heartedly waltzed into some of these controversies, even in situations where she wasn’t in any way involved in the first place.

That’s why the quintessential question that it leaves one with right now is that who exactly is Jwala Gutta? Is she still the badminton player that made history for India or has she moved on to being more of a celebrity who is a little too eager to garner attention?

There is no denying Jwala’s achievements in the past, she has received the fame and adulation due to her for those successes and has come to be instantly recognised by badminton as well as general sports fans in India.

Garnering attention is not necessarily a bad thing. Just ask Ashwini Ponnappa.

Jwala Gutta spent more time on the sidelines for the Delhi Smashers at the IBL

Both Jwala and Ashwini became famous overnight after their successful medal-winning partnership. Even after the IBL auction, both players had an issue with the base price fiasco and made their reservations know. But Ashwini had a splendid tournament to back up her claims and led her Pune Pistons team into the semi-finals.

In partnership with Joachim Fischer Nielsen, she formed one of the best mixed doubles pairings at the event and they lost just one of the five matches that they played. And even on the badminton tour, though results have not gone her way, she has been trying to make a good fist of it with her new partner Pragnya Gadre.

Also the public spats with Gopichand, Saina Nehwal and the others has not exactly been in good taste. Whatever issues she did have with them could have been handled in a much better manner? Also, if it is true that favouritism and bias existed on the part of Gopichand, why didn’t Jwala highlight them herself earlier as opposed to joining in post an initial complaint by another player.

At the IBL, Jwala was regularly seen on the sidelines cheering her team on. So was Taapsee Pannu who came down for a lot of the Hyderabad matches!

It has been revealed that Jwala will partner with Ashwini once again in a bid to compete together at the Commonwealth Games next year where they will be defending their title. But, has too much water passed under the bridge already for Jwala to try and reclaim her spot of honour that she once owned?

The indefinite break in between where she tried her hand at acting and modelling were also speed-breakers. There is, of course, perfectly nothing inappropriate about that, just that it came at an odd time.

Serena Williams took a break for close to over 10 months to pursue similar exploits after a bout of depression. And it helped her big time, as it returned her to the tour a rejuvenated player. It also had a lot to do with a burning desire to play tennis that always existed within Serena. One does not know that yet about Jwala.

Is she still as committed and serious towards badminton as she was three years ago? She has mentioned that she plans to get into acting, but would that be at the expense of her playing career or post her hanging up her boots?

Also Jwala has claimed that she has been a victim of the system on many an occasion. Even in the latest case of the life ban, her father has come out and said that his daughter is being targeted by people with ulterior motives within the BAI and that they may complain to the Sports Ministry about it.

For badminton fans, the rise of Saina Nehwal along with Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta represented a sort of ushering in of an era where Indian badminton would have a major presence on both fronts in the women’s game.

Saina has gone on to fulfil that promise and has maintained her status as a world-beater successfully until now. The doubles pairing has faded away.

More than anything else, it is the loss of a good player from the country’s setup that perhaps causes the most disappointment. Whether it’s fame, injuries, the controversies or just plain loss of desire, only Jwala will know.

What do you think? Has Jwala Gutta’s name has been unfairly tarnished by those around her or does the blame lie squarely at her own twinkling feet?