Biography
Introduced to badminton by her mother when she was just two-and-a-half years old, Ashwini Ponnappa, by her own admission, was too young to remember how her passion for the sport exactly took root.
Known for her thunderous smashes and gritty displays on the court, the three-time Olympian holds the distinction of being one of the first Indian women shuttlers to win a bronze medal in the doubles category at the World Badminton Championships.
The doubles specialist boasts of an impressive medal collection, with two golds, two silvers and a bronze from the Commonwealth Games and four South Asian Games gold medals, resting alongside many other accolades.
Ashwini Ponnappa hails from a family of rich sporting lineage. Her father played hockey for India while her uncle was a state-level cricketer for Karnataka. By the time she turned eight, Ashwini Ponnappa had enrolled at an academy, marking the beginning of a special journey into professional badminton.
It wasn’t long before the Bengaluru-born shuttler began making a name for herself at the national level and following a quick ascent, Ashwini Ponnappa stamped her presence on the international stage with golds in mixed doubles at the 2010 South Asian Games in Dhaka.
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