31 August,2009 07:06 AM IST | | Sanjay Sharma
Jwala Gutta and V Diju's mixed doubles title at the Chinese taipei GP gold is special because, unlike in singles, indian badminton never had a top doubles pair for gen next to emulate
India's Jwala Gutta and V Diju winning the mixed doubles title at the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold tournament, beating Indonesia's second seed pair of Gunawan/Marissa 24-22, 21-18 in the final yesterday should go down as one of the biggest achievements in the country's badminton history.
India boasted of big names in the men's and ladies' singles. There were great precedents for the likes of Saina Nehwal and Pullela Gopichand as Prakash Nath, Nandu Natekar, Dinesh Khanna had all won international events before Prakash Padukone, Syed Modi and Gopichand burst onto the scene.
Ami Ghia Shah at World No 7, Aparna Popat and Madhumita Bisht who also achieved high world rankings were great personalities for Saina to emulate. However, Jwala and Diju have shuttled their name into the folklore of Indian sport by becoming the first badminton doubles pair to win the mixed doubles title at Taiwan.
National coach Gopichand, was thrilled with the memorable triumph. "This augurs extremely well for Indian badminton. I said two weeks ago that if there is any country that can catch up with Chinau00a0 in badminton in the next five years, it is India. And this title proves that we are in the right direction," Gopichand said.
As far as Jwala and Diju are concerned, the former All-England winner warned of the injury factor that the Indian pair should watch out for from now on.
"I hope Jwala and Diju stay injury-free. Diju's nearing 28 and has to be careful. Jwala is young and strong.
There's nothing to worry about as they have a lot of badminton left in them. India can have at least two pairs in the top 10 mixed doubles world rankings in next twou00a0 years."
Mohammad Arif, who has coached Jwala since her childhood felt that the crack pair is set to climb in next week's world rankings. "They will surely reach the top four now, but thereafter it will all depend on their fitness.
That is one area where Jwala needs to work on more. The duo's strength also lies in the fact that since Jwala is strong, she can also attack from the baseline area which is a rarity in mixed doubles."
The pair won the Bitburg Open last year and have been consistently reaching the quarter-finals and semi-finals of all majors. This victory though will propel them to better things.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) also needs to be congratulated here. In getting two good Indonesian coaches as part of the national panel, they have ensured that events like mixed doubles and ladies doubles that were neglected before, are now getting equal importance. This win will also give the national squad a lot of confidence in team events where the mixed pairs used to be the weak link. They may now well be match-winners.
The writer is a former India player.
