Having a prior experience at the Olympics is always a fair advantage: Ashwini Ponnappa

WOMEN'S DOUBLES SHUTTLER ASHWINI PONNAPPA has stated that she and her partner Jwala Gutta stand a great chance to win a medal at the Olympics in Rio this August.

"I think we have a strong chance to do well and win a medal at Rio. We both are working hard and training to get ready for the Olympics. We are making sure we prepare ourselves well for the big challenge ahead for us. So we need to get ourselves right on track for the games and I hope all things fall in place and we can win a medal there and make the country proud," Ashwini told IANS in an interview.

Ashwini/Jwala will be making their second appearance at the Olympics, the first being in London in 2012 where they missed out on the quarter-final berth by just a point. Ashwini believes that having prior experience can work their favour.

"I think having an Olympic experience is always a fair advantage when you are going for the second time that we already know how it is going to be and everything else," she said.

India have fielded 7 shuttlers this year which is an all time high to which Ashwini expressed her satisfaction.

"It will definitely increase the chances for clinching as many medals as possible in Rio. So now we have even better chance this time around compared to London to do well with seven shuttlers participating," the Bangalore-born said.

She also spoke about how other shuttlers like Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu in the women's singles category have the potential to win a medal considering Saina already has an Olympic medal to her name.

"I think there is a great chance this time around, as we have two women's singles players aiming for medals. I hope both Saina and Sindhu will be able to do well and excel. Saina has already won a medal at Olympics, so she has that much more experience and confidence going into Rio this time," she said.

"I think not only Saina, but Sindhu and others also have a good chance of winning.They have been doing really well lately."

Ashwini was in full praise of the newly appointed coach for the doubles, Tan Kim.

"He has been a doubles specialist over a long period of time. He is helping the doubles pair with his experience. It is always good, helpful and nice to have someone experienced in your team. Having him is making the training and preparations for the Olympics much easier."

When asked which women's pair according to her could pose a tough challenge, she replied, 

"I think the Chinese and Japanese would be tough oppositions. Everyone will give their best, but the Chinese and Japanese are the toughest."

Ashwini also expressed how unfortunate was it for the men's singles shuttler Parupalli Kashyap who could not qualify due to injuries.

"I don't think it is just Kashyap, but we also had other players like HS Prannoy, Ajay Jayaram who could have made it to Rio. Both of them worked hard. But it is unfortunate that Kasyap could not make it to Rio but Prannoy and Ajay, either of these two, had the capability to make it," Ashwini concluded.