"If we are meant to be there, we are meant to be there" - Ashwini Ponnappa dissects Paris Olympic selection and partnership with Tanisha Crasto

Badminton star Ashwini Ponnappa has been a trailblazer in Indian doubles, first with senior Jwala Gutta and now with junior Tanisha Crasto. In a career spanning well over a decade, she has achieved stupendous feats, and with her and Crasto’s title run in December, all eyes are on the two to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

At the minute, the duo trail Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand in the BWF rankings, but shaky form on Jolly and Gopichand's part might translate to Ponnappa making it to her third Olympic Games.

The 34-year-old finished 2023 ranked 24th in the world alongside Crasto, and the duo will be making their Super 1000 debut next week at the Malaysia Open.

Speaking on her expectations from Kuala Lumpur and the journey to getting there, Ponnappa told Sportstar:

“Tanisha (Crasto) and I are really looking forward to playing in Malaysia. It will be our first Super 1000 competition together; I really hope we can get some good matches together.”

“I’m happy that by the end of the year we could get a couple of wins. We picked smaller tournaments to work our way up the rankings, so that we can play bigger tournaments this year,” she went on to add.

Despite pressure for the Olympics mounting, Ashwini Ponnappa is more focused on her and Crasto's immediate matches and results.

“I think everyone else is thinking about it more than we are. I’m being objective even now. If we are meant to be there, we are meant to be there. But the main focus is to perform well and get results,” she said.

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Ashwini Ponnappa on her partnership with Tanisha Crasto

Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto have fourteen years between them, and the age gap has brought both its advantages and disadvantages.

On the plus side, all of Ponnappa’s experience translates to stronger performances for the duo on the court. However, the fact that the Commonwealth Games gold medalist is 34 means that she may need longer than Crasto to recover after their matches.

With their age gap, Ashwini Ponnappa also sometimes tends to take on the role of a mentor for her younger counterpart. The former said, via the aforementioned source:

“There’s a big age gap between the two of us so it’s natural that we see things differently. I switch to being a mentor at times. While she is young, she has the capacity to listen and learn. If she needs help I’m always there.”

On the other hand, the fact that Ponnappa has been doing this for a long time can make it all seem mundane, and she enjoys the fresh perspective that Crasto brings to the court.

“I quite like Tanisha’s approach to the game. Having played as long as I have had, there are times when you don’t always appreciate what you have in front of you. I like her enthusiasm for the game. I try to imbibe some of that in myself. Playing with someone like her who is starting out and enthusiastic, I try to feed off her energy,” she said.