Fresh from her triumphant exploits with Jwala Gutta in the Canadian Open, shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa on Sunday said the ace Indian doubles pair was now aiming to break into the top ten while qualifying for next year’s Rio Olympic Games.
“For doubles, the top 16 pairs will qualify and we have to be in the top 13. Ideally we want to be in the top ten. The qualifying process started this May and ends next May. There are quite a few tournaments (left to qualify) but until the last moment anything can happen. It’s still a long way to go,” said Ashwini at a promotional event.
“When we qualified for the Olympics the last time (2012, london), we had to wait till the Indian open and had we lost in the quarters we would not have qualified,” recalled the 25-year-old.
Jwala and Ashwini, who complement each other with their different areas of specialisation on the court, are ranked 13th in the world and their first major outing is World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia where the pair wants to win a second medal, said Ashwini.
Ashwini welcomed the reported appointment of a specialised doubles coach, Malaysian Tan Kim, but said she wanted a separate camp for doubles players, to be held separately from those who play singles.