Paris Olympics 2024: Emotional Indian shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa announces retirement after latest defeat

India’s ace shuttler Ashwini Ponappa announced her retirement from badminton on Tuesday (Jul30) after she lost in the women’s doubles final group stage match of the Paris Olympics. Ponappa, a veteran of Indian badminton who has served the nation for almost two decades was a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and also won several medals including Asian Games. Ashwin was partnered by Tanisha Crasto at the Paris Olympics but had a poor campaign having lost all three Group C matches.

Ponappa announces retirement

"This will be my last, but Tanisha has a long way to go," said the 34-year-old Ashwini, who was competing in her third Olympics, when asked if she planned to play in the 2028 Los Angeles Games. "It takes a toll emotionally and mentally; I can't go through this again. It's not easy; you can handle it better when you're younger. Having played for so long, I can't take it anymore," she added, struggling to hold back tears.

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The pair concluded their Group C matches with a loss to Australia’s Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu, scoring 15-21, 10-21, which also ended their Olympic journey.

Ashwini was renowned for her partnership with another star named Jwala Gutta with whom she won multiple accolades. This included the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and bronze at both the Uber Cup (2014 and 2016) and the Asian Championships (2014). The pair’s biggest achievement was the World Championships medal bronze medal which they conquered in 2011. However, like this year, the pair did not enjoy success at the Olympics and were knocked out in the early stages.

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The defeat also means India’s chances of winning a medal in the women’s doubles have evaporated but there are still ambitions from the rest of the badminton contingent. India will be expecting medals from Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu who both are in the knockout stage of the singles while HS Prannoy is in action later in the day.

Chirag-Satwik are also expected to go deep in the men’s doubles with them too hoping to bring a medal back to the nation.