Ashwini Ponnappa

Ashwini Ponnappa was born on 18 September 1989 in Bangalore . Her father was a national hockey player. However Ashwini preferred badminton over hockey and started training in Badminton.

She completed her schooling in St. Francis Xavier’s Girl’s High School, Bangalore and she moved to Hyderabad for her Bachelor’s degree. In 2001, Ashwini Ponnappa Won her first national title in 2004 in the sub-junior girls’ doubles category.She also won national title in sub-junior girls’ doubles in 2005, Junior girls’ doubles National title in 2006 and 2007. She won the gold medal in mixed doubles and the team events at the South Asian Games held in 2010. In the 2010 Commonwealth Games, she won the gold medal in Women’s Doubles event pairing with Jwala Gutta making history of winning the first gold medal for India in the event. Gutta and Ponnappa then became household names after winning the medal in front of home crowd.

She played women’s doubles at the 2012 London Olympics. Ponnappa and Gutta lost their opening women’s doubles match against the Japanese duo of Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa. They then went on to beat much higher ranked Wen Hsing Cheng and Yu Chin Chien of Chinese Taipei 25-23, 16-21, 21-18 to register their first win in the group stages. Jwala and Ashwini missed out on a quarterfinal berth by a difference of just one point, even though they beat Shinta Mulia Sari and Lei Yao of Singapore 21-16 21-15 in their last group B match, after tying with Japan and Taipei on the number of wins. Prior to India’s final group game on Tuesday night, the World number five Japanese pair of Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa had shockingly lost to Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Wen Hsing and Chien Yu Chin, ranked 10th, 19-21 11-21. India lodged a formal protest with the Games organizers to probe if the women’s doubles badminton match involving Japan and Chinese Taipei was played in the right spirit, following the elimination of medal hopes Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa but no action was taken. Following the Olympic Games Jwala went to a temporary sabbatical from the game. Ponnappa then partnered Pradnya Gadre for a brief period of time in 2013 and then re-united with Jwala later in the year. On June 29, 2015, continuing playing with Jwala, she won the Canada Open women’s doubles title by defeating the top-seeded Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek.

On 24 December 2017 she married businessman and model Karan Medappa. Her favourite author is Nicholas Sparks and her favourite movie is the 2013 romantic-comedy Begin Again. Her favourite badminton strike is the smash.

BWF World Championships

Women’s doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2011	Wembley Arena, London, England	Jwala Gutta	Tian Qing Zhao Yunlei	14-21, 16-21	Bronze

Commonwealth Games

Women’s doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre, Gold Coast, Australia	N. Sikki Reddy	Setyana Mapasa Gronya Somerville	21-19, 21-19	Bronze
2014	Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland	Jwala Gutta	Vivian Kah Mun Hoo Woon Khe Wei	17-21, 21-23	Silver
2010	Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi, India	Jwala Gutta	Shinta Mulia Sari Yao Lei	21-16, 21-19	Gold

Asia Championships

Women’s doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Gimcheon Indoor Stadium, Gimcheon, South Korea	Jwala Gutta	Luo Ying Luo Yu	12-21, 7-21	Bronze

South Asian Games

Women’s doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	Multipurpose Hall SAI-SAG Centre, Guwahati, India	Jwala Gutta	N. Sikki Reddy K. Maneesha	21-9, 21-17	Gold

Mixed doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	Multipurpose Hall SAI-SAG Centre, Guwahati, India	Manu Attri	Pranav Chopra N. Sikki Reddy	29-30, 17-21	Silver

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix has two level such as Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.

Women’s doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2017	Syed Modi International	N. Sikki Reddy	Kamilla Rytter Juhl Christinna Pedersen	16-21, 18-21	02 ! Runner-up
2015	Canada Open	Jwala Gutta	Eefje Muskens Selena Piek	21-19, 21-16	01 ! Winner
2010	India Open	Jwala Gutta	Shinta Mulia Sari Yao Lei	11-21, 21-9, 15-21	02 ! Runner-up

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2017	Syed Modi International	B. Sumeeth Reddy	Pranaav Jerry Chopra N. Sikki Reddy	20-22, 10-21	02 ! Runner-up

     BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

     BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

Women’s singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	Bahrain International	Trupti Murgunde	16-21, 13-21	02 ! Runner-up

Women’s doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	Welsh International	N. Sikki Reddy	Anastasia Chervyakova Olga Morozova	16-21, 11-21	02 ! Runner-up
2013	Tata India International	Jwala Gutta	Pradnya Gadre N. Sikki Reddy	19-21, 19-21	02 ! Runner-up

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2013	Tata India International	Tarun Kona	Akshay Dewalkar Pradnya Gadre	17-21, 21-18, 18-21	02 ! Runner-up

     BWF International Challenge tournament

     BWF International Series tournament

     BWF Future Series tournament

Women’s doubles results with Jwala Gutta against Super Series finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists.