Top 5 Medal-Winning Moments of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa

India’s most reliable badminton women’s doubles duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa recently achieved yet another high in their already glittering career. The Indian pair, who had reached the World Championships quarter-finals only two weeks back, broke into the top 10 of the BWF World Rankings for the very first time last week. Currently ranked 10th, Gutta and Ponnappa are enjoying a rich vein of form and have once again reinforced the fact that they are one of the best doubles duos to have ever emerged from India.To celebrate Jwala and Ashwini’s latest success, we take a look back at five glorious medal-winning performances from the Indian duo.

#5 2015 Canada Open title

The Canada Open title was Jwala and Ashwini’s maiden title after reuniting

After reaching the semifinals at the US Open Grand Prix Gold, the sizzling chemistry of this Indian pair was on display once more as they scooped up the 2015 Canada Open Grand Prix title that followed– their first title triumph after reuniting post London Olympics. Their impressive run to the title also included an upstaging of the top seeds Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in the final.

#4 2014 Uber Cup bronze

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won a bronze at the

Jwala and Ashwini’s sharp precision and fluid strokes played an important role in India’s historic bronze-winning Uber Cup campaign in 2014. The Indian doubles team put up a brave and determined show against higher-ranked teams that helped in sealing one of Indian badminton’s proudest moments on home soil in New Delhi. The highlight was when the then-36th ranked team bridged the gap of 27 ranking places to topple the No. 9 pair of Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii of Indonesia in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-finals, even though the team eventually lost to Japan, Gutta and Ponnappa gave the fourth-ranked Japanese team of Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo quite a scare by sneaking out the second game.

#3 2014 Badminton Asia Championships bronze

Jwala and Ashwini Ponnappa won their maiden Asian Championships medal in 2014

Gutta and Ponnappa also came up with a bronze-winning performance at the 2014 Badminton Asia Championships held in Gimcheon, South Korea. They made short work of the third-seeded Thai duo of Aroonkesorn Duanganong and Voravichitchaikul Kunchala on their way to the last-eight.

Chinese twins Luo Ying and Luo Yu showed the exit door to the Indian combine in the semi-finals.

#2 2011 World Championships bronze

The duo ended a 28-year World Championships drought

For 28 years, Indian badminton aficionados had waited for a medal at the World Championships after the legendary Prakash Padukone had grabbed a bronze in 1983. It was finally the left-handed Jwala and the right-handed Ashwini who combined to end the drought with a confident run to the semi-finals in 2011. The pair was on a rampage that year and had accounted for the second seeds Cheng Wen-hsing Chien Yu-chin as well as the 12th seeds Vita Marrisa and Nadya Melati en route to the semi-finals.

Their challenge came to an end at the hands of the fifth seeds and the Indians had to be content with the bronze.

#1 2010 and Commonwealth Games gold

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa with their Commonwealth Games gold

The magic started in 2010 for this duo when they produced a stellar performance at the Commonwealth Games that year to become the first Indian pair to clinch the women’s doubles gold. With deft touches at the net and some solid patrolling at the baseline, the second-seeded Indian pair toppled the top seeds Sari Shanti Mulia and Yao Lei of Singapore for the yellow metal.

In 2014, they won their second Commonwealth Games medal at Glasgow, this time a silver after finishing runners-up to the pair of Vivian Hoo and Woon Khe Wei.