Emotional Ashwini Ponnappa declares Paris 2024 as her Olympic swansong

Indian badminton player Ashwini Ponnappa has announced that the Paris 2024 Olympics was her last appearance at the Summer Games.

Ponnappa, partnering Tanisha Crasto, was competing in the women’s doubles competition at Paris 2024.

The Indian duo’s campaign ended on Tuesday after a 15-21, 10-21 loss to Australia's Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu in their final Group C game.

"This will be my last (Olympics), but Tanisha has a long way to go," the 34-year-old Ponnappa said while trying to hold back her tears.

"It takes a toll emotionally and mentally, I can't go through this again. It is not easy, you can take all these if you are a little younger. Having played for so long, I can't take it anymore," she added, removing herself from the contention for Los Angeles 2028.

At Paris 2024, Ponnappa-Tanisha had earlier lost their other two group matches against Japan’s Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida and the Republic of Korea’s Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong.

"We wanted to get a win today. As much as we would have liked the outcome to be different and better, the biggest takeaway I and Tanisha had is we had quite a journey, getting to the Olympics. It has not been easy," said Ponnappa.

Tanisha Crasto, who was making her Olympic debut at just 21, also broke down after Ponnappa’s announcement.

"She (Ashwini Ponnappa) has been my biggest support here. We had wanted a better result and held out heads high. She motivated me every time,” Crasto stated.

Ashwini Ponnappa won her first national title in 2001 and went on to form a formidable partnership with Jwala Gutta before the latter’s retirement in 2017.

Ponnappa and Jwala won a host of international medals together, including a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi and bronze medals at the Uber Cup (2014 and 2016) and the Asian Championships (2014).

In 2011, the two scripted history by becoming the first Indian doubles pair to win a medal - a bronze - at the World Championships.

Ponnappa and Jwala also partnered up for two Olympic Games - London 2012 and Rio 2016 - but failed to progress beyond the group stage in both.

After missing out on Tokyo 2020, Ponnappa took a break for women’s doubles but returned to the fray after a conversation over a meal with Tanisha convinced her to pair up with the youngster in 2023.

The two clicked instantly and made four finals that year and won two of them - the Abu Dhabi and Guwahati Masters. The string of impressive performances saw the team surge up the rankings and qualify for Paris 2024.

Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna had also announced Paris 2024 as his Olympic swansong after he and his men’s doubles partner N Sriram Balaji crashed out in the first round.