Ashwini Ponnappa

Ashwini Ponnappa
Ashwini Ponnappa
	Ponnappa in 2010
Personal information
Country	India
Born	18 September 1989 (age 35); Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Residence	Hyderabad, India
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	60 kg (132 lb)
Years active	2007–present
Handedness	Right
Women's & mixed doubles
Highest ranking	10 (WD with Jwala Gutta, 20 August 2015); 19 (XD with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, 3 February 2021)
Current ranking	13 (WD with Tanisha Crasto, 26 November 2024)
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing India
World Championships
Uber Cup
Commonwealth Games
Asian Games
Asian Championships
Asia Team Championships
South Asian Games
	BWF profile

Ashwini Ponnappa Machimanda (born 18 September 1989) is an Indian badminton player who represents the country at the international badminton circuit in both the women's and mixed doubles disciplines. She had a successful partnership with Jwala Gutta as the pair has won many medals in international events including a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and bronze medals at the Uber Cup and the Asian Badminton Championships. They were consistently ranked among the top 20 in the BWF World Ranking reaching as high as no. 10. Ponnappa and Gutta also won the bronze medal at the BWF World Championships in 2011, becoming the first Indian pair and women and only the second overall to win a medal at the World Championships.

Early life

Ashwini Ponnappa was born on 18 September 1989 in Bangalore. She was educated at St. Francis Xavier Girls High School, Bangalore and at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad. Her father played hockey for India.^[1] However Ashwini preferred badminton over hockey and started training in badminton.

Career

In 2001, Ashwini Ponnappa won her first national title in 2004 in the sub-junior girls' doubles category. She also won the national title in sub-junior girls' doubles in 2005, and the 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 by winning the first gold medal for India in the event. Gutta and Ponnappa became household names after winning the medal in front of home crowd.^[2]

Later on in 2011 they came up with one of their finest performances when she and Gutta etched their names in history books becoming the first Indian pair to ensure a medal at the World Badminton Championships. The pair defeated 12th seeds Vita Marrisa and Nadya Melati of Indonesia 17–21, 21–10, 21–17 to storm into the women's doubles semifinal before losing out to Chinese fifth seeds in the semis in London, thereby winning a bronze in the Badminton World Championship.

She participated in the 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. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Ponnappa and Gutta won the silver medal in the women's doubles, losing to a Malaysian pair in the final.^[3] On 29 June 2015, playing with Jwala, they won the Canada Open women's doubles title by defeating the top-seeded Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek.^[4] She competed with Gutta at the 2016 Olympics, but they lost all three of their group stage matches and therefore did not progress further.^[5] At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Ponnappa was part of the Indian team which won gold in the mixed team event, and won bronze with N. Sikki Reddy in the women's doubles.^[1]

Personal life

On 24 December 2017, she married businessman and model Karan Medappa.^[6]^[7]

Achievements

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

Asian 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
2010	Wooden-Floor Gymnasium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	P. C. Thulasi	Aparna Balan Shruti Kurien	19–21, 20–22	Silver
2016	Multipurpose Hall SAI-SAG Centre, Shillong, India	Jwala Gutta	N. Sikki Reddy K. Maneesha	21–9, 21–17	Gold

Mixed doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	Wooden-Floor Gymnasium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	Valiyaveetil Diju	Sanave Thomas Aparna Balan	21–11, 21–15	Gold
2016	Multipurpose Hall SAI-SAG Centre, Shillong, India	Manu Attri	Pranav Chopra N. Sikki Reddy	29–30, 17–21	Silver

BWF World Tour (3 titles, 4 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[8] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.^[9]

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Level	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Syed Modi International	Super 300	N. Sikki Reddy	Chow Mei Kuan Lee Meng Yean	15–21, 13–21	Runner-up
2019	Hyderabad Open	Super 100	N. Sikki Reddy	Baek Ha-na Jung Kyung-eun	17–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2023	Abu Dhabi Masters	Super 100	Tanisha Crasto	Julie Finne-Ipsen Mai Surrow	21–16, 16–21, 21–8	Winner
2023	Syed Modi International	Super 300	Tanisha Crasto	Rin Iwanaga Kie Nakanishi	14–21, 21–17, 15–21	Runner-up
2023	Guwahati Masters	Super 100	Tanisha Crasto	Sung Shuo-yun Yu Chien-hui	21–13, 21–19	Winner
2023	Odisha Masters	Super 100	Tanisha Crasto	Meilysa Trias Puspita Sari Rachel Allessya Rose	14–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2024	Guwahati Masters	Super 100	Tanisha Crasto	Li Huazhou Wang Zimeng	21–18, 21–12	Winner

BWF Grand Prix (1 title, 3 runners-up)

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Women's doubles

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

Mixed doubles

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

BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (2 titles, 6 runners-up)

Women's singles

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

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2013	Tata India International	Jwala Gutta	Pradnya Gadre N. Sikki Reddy	19–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2016	Welsh International	N. Sikki Reddy	Anastasia Chervyakova Olga Morozova	16–21, 11–21	Runner-up
2019	Maldives International	N. Sikki Reddy	Sayaka Hobara Natsuki Sone	10–21, 21–17, 12–21	Runner-up
2021	Denmark Masters	N. Sikki Reddy	Amalie Magelund Freja Ravn	21–15, 19–21, 14–21	Runner-up
2023	Nantes International	Tanisha Crasto	Hung En-tzu Lin Yu-pei	21–15, 21–14	Winner

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2013	Tata India International	Tarun Kona	Akshay Dewalkar Pradnya Gadre	17–21, 21–18, 18–21	Runner-up
2022 (III)	India International Challenge	K. Sai Pratheek	Rohan Kapoor N. Sikki Reddy	21–16, 11–21, 21–18	Winner