"Things changed after we won the Commonwealth Games" - Interview with Ashwini Ponnappa

Ashwini Ponnappa being presented with the Arjuna Award by President Pranab Mukherjee in 2012

Did you take part in any other sport?

I did not take part in any other sports as I had no time and hence wasn’t too interested in anything else. The only thing apart from badminton that I have done was athletics in school. I was naturally fast and hence was a good sprinter and long jumper.

There must have been times when in spite of giving your best, you weren’t getting the desired result. In such cases, would you get exasperated or maintain composure and keep trying?

Well, most sportspersons go through that. You train and work really hard and give your best and just do not get the results. I’ve gone through that a lot of times too, and still go through that sometimes.

I used to get exasperated and emotional during my early days, because I’d feel really bad. But I’ve managed to cope with the situation because of the help of my parents and a really good friend, Ashlesh, to whom I first went to at the age of 12.

He helped me a lot with my mental training then, and showed me how to enjoy and made me realize that I played my best when I had fun on the court. I won my first singles state tournament after his help, as I had fun and didn’t put too much pressure on myself.

How difficult was it for your parents given that you had to travel too often?

It was pretty difficult, especially with both of them working. My dad travelled with me for most of my tournaments, and mum was at home looking after my younger brother who had asthma.

You come from a family which has a sporting background. Did that have an impact in your life?

It did have an impact, as they understood sports really well because of the sporting background, and encouraged me to take up sports as I was good at it and did not stress too much on my studies.

My parents loved sports and enjoyed watching me play. Since dad played hockey for the state and played football and cricket for the bank, he was pretty fit and helped me with my physical fitness during tournaments and in the off-season when we didn’t have any training, and mum helped me with my diet and making sure I ate right, and keeping me calm.

The most important aspect is that they were with me always, irrespective of what happened in the match, and encouraged me to follow my dream of playing badminton and doing really well.

What was your daily routine like?

Well, my daily routine then was quite different because I had to manage both, my school as well as college along with training. Luckily, I had wonderful principals both in school and colleges.

My principal in my school let me leave school early for practice, and when I was in college, I was given permission to take off from college to train.

So my daily routine was waking up and starting my day with physical fitness in the ground at around 0600 hours, then get done and rush home to get ready for school which started at 08:30 hours. Then I would leave school at around 14:15 hours for practice, when school actually got over at 15:30 hours.

I would finish practice and head back home at around 18:30 hours. Once I got to college, it was more training and no college except during my exams. So my entire day was filled with training sessions and practice along with resting and eating.