Exclusive: 'It's a welcome break for me' - Ashwini Ponnappa opens up on life in lockdown, decision to play All England Championship, and much more

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the clean-sweep of the entire sporting calendar but the dreaded virus has also forced the athletes to train indoors with almost the entire world currently under lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. Sportspersons, who are usually on the road amid their extremely hectic schedules, are taking this phase to reflect on their respective careers, life, training regimes, etc.

Indian badminton player and a five-time Commonwealth Games medallist, Ashwini Ponnappa, in an exclusive interview with WION’s Sports Editor, Digvijay Singh Deo, opened up about a lot of things ranging from life in lockdown, indoor training routine, postponement of Tokyo Olympics, special bonding with Sikki Reddy, and much more.

Digvijay Singh Deo: I did tell Ashwini that I was extremely envious of her for managing to keep up a punishing fitness regime all through this lockdown and I must commend you for finding a way.

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Ashwini: I think badminton players can work on some aspects of their game even when they are at home, this could be wall practice or racket shadowing. I have a small apartment, but you don't need much space to work on some aspects of your game. Fortunately, my husband can also play a little bit, so I play with him sometimes. But otherwise, I'm just trying to not lose touch with the sport.

DSD:Is it frustrating, being in lockdown? Because you've been stuck since returning from all the All England Championships in early March?

Ashwini:To be honest, when we went to Birmingham for the tournament, at that time we weren't really sure about the situation. A few players from India had dropped out because of the health concerns. But a lot of the other top players were there, so that made us wonder if the threat of the COVID-19 virus was really that dangerous. But by the time of the tournament, a few countries in Europe had started nationwide lockdowns, so the situation was escalating. After All England, we were scheduled to play one more tournament in Switzerland, but after a discussion with our coach Pullela Gopichand, we decided it was best to not play and get back to India as soon as possible. Luckily, the badminton association of India were really helpful and we were able to reach India just a few days before the travel restrictions were imposed.

DSD: In hindsight did you make the right call to go to All England despite the pandemic raging by then?

Ashwini: I think if we had known the gravity of the situation at the time, then we would have definitely wanted the All England tournament to be called off. But there was no way to predict back then how quickly things would escalate. So at the time, I think the players took the right call to go to the event because as I said before, all the other top shuttlers were there as well. It is also hard to voluntarily skip a tournament if the badminton world federation is going ahead with it. But I'm glad that the BWF took the right call to suspend all subsequent tournaments because it would have been impossible for players to compete in the current climate.

DSD: I must say your Twitter feed makes for some excellent reading. How many pets do you have at home?

Ashwini: The two dogs that we currently have at home- Jazz and Lola - are actually my in-laws' pets. But as soon as my husband found out that I'm returning home, he got the dogs to the house and I'm delighted he did that. They are so lively and have been a breath of fresh air in our lives. They fill our house with energy and just instil so much positivity into us. We are also showered with love from our two dogs. So overall being locked in with them is a lot of fun.

DSD: It is nice to see the other, lighter side of the badminton players during the lockdown because usually all of you wouldn't get to spend so much time at home...

Ashwini: Yes, that's true. I'm travelling so often that I hardly get so spend time at my house in Bengaluru. And when I'm in Hyderabad, my life revolves around my training, I spend most of the day on the court. But now. During the lockdown we are living a fantasy life of sorts, my husband and I are able to spend quality time with our dogs, which wouldn't be possible if we weren't in lockdown.

DSD: You have raised your voice against the treatment of animals in the past and now the roles have reversed Ashwini...lots of videos of animals freely roaming around and all of us are locked up.

Ashwini: It's so strange to see these things. But I feel like nature has a way of balancing itself out and I believe everything happens for a reason. It must be the first time in years that the animals have the freedom to walk around in towns and cities. It's quite an eye-opener, but also nice to see all the positive content while we're locked down because it is important to keep our spirits up.

DSD: You have previously raised your voice against animals being caged, now the roles have reversed during the lockdown, and awe are the ones who are unable to move freely...

Ashwini: It's quite ironic how things have changed. It's also a bit weird because it's not just our country, the entire world is suffering.hopefully after this crisis is over, people will be more understanding towards the plight of the animals. I have a feeling people's outlook towards a lot of things will change after this ordeal.

DSD: What for you has been the biggest piece of learning in these last 30 days or so.earlier before your marriage you used to stay alone in Hyderabad when training at national camp so you know how to manage on your own...

Ashwini: It's actually a welcome break for me, I have travelled a lot over the past few years. I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I have had to represent my country, but sometimes you do feel like pressing the pause button. This forced lockdown has been a welcome break for me. I can sit back, relax and also have more control over my life. Nothing is pushing me at the moment and I can do things on my own terms. Sometimes when you're travelling and playing, life gets a bit monotonous and at times you're just going through the motions every day. So I feel like it's important to take a step back and realise why you started playing the sport in the first place, why you fell in love with the game. I like the fact that I am in charge of my routine. Whatever training I do, is purely because I want to do it. Sometimes when you're on tour, you lose track of why you do certain things because of the busy schedule.

DSD: I was browsing through your Twitter feed and a lovely piece of skill was the home practice even as your husband in the background carried on with the TV viewing.

Ashwini: I think he was doing some work on his laptop at that point in time. When I'm doing my training, he'll usually do his work, both of us are making the best use of this time. I'm trying to unwind and relax, take a step back to reflect on things and add more purpose to my actions. Meanwhile, my husband reads a lot, he does research based on his assignments. So while he was doing his work, I continued to do my wall practice.

DSD: How essential it is to keep the skills sharp during this period because there is bound to be a period of rustiness when sport resumes at some point?

Ashwini: I think it's essential to be in touch with your skills. Anything you can do to work on your game will go a long way in helping you regain your touch when you're back on the court. So any training is better than no training. Wall practice improves my defence, which is very important for a doubles player. I use a hex ball for my wall practice and the good thing about that is I can also work on different strokes. The apartment that I live in right now is pretty small, so it becomes difficult to practice with a shuttle. My two dogs also love the shuttle, so it is tough to use it. But with the hex ball, I can practice a wide array of shots and you can do it at a slower pace when compared to the shuttle, which comes back faster. So I'm glad I bought the hex ball a while back and I'm putting it to good use now.

DSD: How are you and Sikki Reddy staying in touch?As doubles partners do you also usually spend time together to build up that understanding on-court?

Ashwini: We stay together when we're on tour and even go out for meals when we can. Before Sikki got married we used to live together as well, so we have spent a lot of time together and do have a special bond. But when we come back home, it is much more family-centric. We try to spend as much time with our respective families as possible because we are travelling so much throughout the year. Right now we're just keeping in touch through social media posts, if Sikki posts an interesting video, I comment on it and otherwise we talk about shows that we're watching.

DSD: What are you watching these days?

Ashwini: You'll be shocked to know that I have started watching Korean shows, I've really gotten into Korean drama shows and Sikki enjoys watching them too.

DSD: How essential is it to have belief in a partnership after an underwhelming year? The results in 2019 weren’t very good and you had a lot of run in’s with top seeds very early on.

Ashwini: Itis tough maintaining that belief, but if you see the matches that we lost last year in the first rounds, they were mostly against top five or top ten pairs. And they were all good contests, so that has only motivated us more to work harder and improve our performances. It is disappointing because we were in positions where we had our opponents on the ropes but weren't able to finish the job off. I was also struggling with a knee injury last year which also made it difficult to perform at the highest level. But it still gives us the satisfaction that we were competitive in most watches we played in. Sikki and I have been supportive of each other and hopefully, this year will bring much better results.

DSD: Someone like you who has won the big medals, obviously wants to keep herself motivated to perform at the highest level, is that why I saw a picture of notes being taken of matches...are you doing a post-mortem of what has been going wrong?

Ashwini: Absolutely, I feel like I've been working really hard and training a lot. So there's nothing lacking on those fronts. But there's obviously something that's missing from our performances. So as players I feel it is my responsibility to figure out why things aren't working out. Since we don't have video analysts of our own, I've been watching tapes of our matches and trying to observe if there is any pattern to our matches.so I've been trying to figure out a way of breaking everything down and making it easier for me to understand.

DSD: You were part of the Indian team for the last two Olympics. This time do you think the postponement of Tokyo Games is going to work out in your favour?

Ashwini: I'm not sure if that will be the case. This year initially, we still had a couple of months left for the Olympic qualification period for the 2020 games. No one really knows when things are going to resume and get back on track. I think it will only be fair if next year we are given that period again by the BWF to get out Olympic spots. But then again no one really knows how long the wait is going to be for the next tournament. We just have to play the waiting game at the moment.

DSD: As things stand, we have 15 months for the Olympics.what in your opinion should the qualifying criteria be.should it be a fresh start or should they just play the tournaments that were lost due to the suspension.

Ashwini: I think we should just play the tournaments that were lost because of the coronavirus pandemic because there was a lot of work put in by shuttlers for that one year of the qualification period that did take place. I think it would be unfair to start the process again even though it might be an advantage to some of us. The BWF, in my opinion, should just schedule the tournaments that were lost and I don't think there would be any complaints from the players. But like I said before, we do not know when the action will return.

DSD: You weren't that far behind in terms of the ranking cut off for the Olympics, you were 4000- 5000 points behind, that can be made up with a few quarter-finals runs in tournaments, so do you think if the qualification period starts again on 1st March 2021 and goes on till 30th April 2021, you will be able to get a good shot at qualification?

Ashwini: Yes, it would only be fair that we get that chance. I'm also confident that we will be able to achieve that because the last couple of Olympics we have been in similar scenarios and somehow managed to sneak our way with strong performances in the final few tournaments. So I think we still have a good chance of making the games even though we didn't have a good start. In the ideal situation, we would be in a much more comfortable situation, but I believe in fighting until the end because anything can happen in the last few months leading up to the games.

DSD: There has been a lot of criticism of the BWF for the way they handled the pandemic. Has this period also exposed the leadership, in your sport?

Ashwini: I think they were a little late in the decisions they took, they could have definitely taken a stand for the players a bit earlier. Many of us players voiced our concerns, a lot of us continued to play in tournaments even though we were scared of the outbreak of the disease. If the BWF is holding tournaments, you feel as if it is your duty to participate in the events. But I'm glad that BWF eventually heard our voices and took a call to suspend the tournaments. It's never too late and luckily they made the announcement in just the nick of time before the situation got out of control. So, the BWF might not have taken a decision as early as other world federations, but I'm happy that eventually the right call was made.

DSD: How much are you in touch with the rest of the badminton circuit right now?Whatsapp, Skype, Google Hangouts or is this a welcome pause and just life on your own terms?

Ashwini: I think because of social media, we do not actually have to constantly be in touch with everyone to know what they're doing. A lot of players have been putting up motivational videos. You get an idea into how each athlete is trying to keep fit during these tough times, which is helpful. So in a way, all of us have been aiding each other through this crisis. Even a funny or light post can encourage you to become more active.