Beautiful Jwala not yet ready for glam world

Jwala Gutta may be a sought-after personality by the glamour world post CWG, but her priority still lies with badmintonu00a0

There's more to Jwala Gutta (26) than just her badminton skills. She's tall, pretty, articulate and has all the qualities to make it big in the world of showbiz. After claiming a Commonwealth Games gold medal in the women's doubles (Ashwini Ponappa was her partner), life has changed for Jwala.

While she dismisses talk of joining the film world, she admits to receiving offers from television channels.

Last Saturday, she danced with Indian cricketer S Sreesanth at the Sahara India Sports awards night in Mumbai.

However, she insists that badminton will be a priority in her life for the next two years and her immediate goal is to claim honours at this month's Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

MiD DAY caught up with her recently. Excerpts from a chat:

How has life been after the Commonwealth Games gold medal?
Incredible, fantastic ufffd like a dream. It's good that we lived up to people's expectations. I am enjoying every moment of my new status.
For long, doubles players in India were never given their due. Now, I am sure we will not be forgotten in a hurry.

Did you enjoy performing at the Sahara awards on Saturday night?
I really enjoyed the rehearsals and later the performance.
In any case, I have always enjoyed dancing, so it was not such a big deal. The stage was fantastic and I met so many true sports legends. That was the great part.

There are rumours of you entering the film world...
No, not yet. But there have been offers from television people.

Do you see yourself as part of the glamour world soon?
Who knows about the future, but right now, my priority is badminton. I am not getting carried away with all this. The Asian Games are round the corner and I am focussed on the event. There will be team and individual events. I am keen to get a medal.

The Asian Games will be a different game altogether as compared to CWG. Are you confident of success?
Indians peak late in sport and I am just approaching my peak. My best is yet to come. We have defeated three of the top six pairs in the world. I feel, we can repeat our CWG performance in China. What have we tou00a0 lose anyway? This Mumbai trip was just a three-day digression. It's back to training now.

Has the Badminton association finally congratulated you and Ashwini for your CWG gold?
Not yet! It is really bad. We are being applauded by the entire country, but our president (V K Verma) and other officials have still not found the time to congratulate us. Doubles have always been ignored in India and our own association is not bothered so why blame the media? I hope the players get the respect they deserve.

Where does Jwala go from here?
I am going to play for at least a couple of years. It has been a great life. Yes, there have been ups and downs, but who does not have them?u00a0 For the next couple of years or so, badminton will remain my priority. As I said before, my best is yet to come.