Jwala Gutta wants Saina Nehwal-like support from Indians

World championships bronze medal-winning shuttler Jwala Gutta hopes nation's attitude towards doubles changes and that her breed receives more support just like India's other singles stars like Saina Nehwal

India's ace shuttler Jwala Gutta is always known to speak her mind and rightly so.

After her historic bronze medal-winning feat with partner Ashwini Ponnappa at the World Badminton Championships over the weekend, a livid Jwala yesterday told MiD DAY from London that she was not satisfied with the step-motherly treatment meted out to doubles back home.

Jwala and Ashwini Ponnappa became India's first women's doubles pair to win a medal at the Worlds, after they stunned 12th seed Indonesians Vita Marrisa and Nadya Melati 17-21, 21-10, 21-17 in the quarter-finals on Friday. Unfortunately a day later, they lost 14-21, 16-21 in the semis to World No 5 Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlai of China.

Jwala hopes that at least now she and her breed will attract support and sponsorship on par with singles stars like Saina Nehwal. Excerpts from an interview

Why is it that the Chinese are so dominant in badminton?
It's not just badminton, they are doing well in most Olympic sports. That's because their system is unique. They treat every sport as part of their national pride. They have set very high standards for themselves and strive hard towards achieving it. Their players play among themselves and that's a huge plus. And most importantly, in badminton, they do not discriminate between singles and doubles.

The Indian boxing contingent regularly travels to Cuba for training and competition because Cuba has quality boxers. Do you think Indian badminton could work out something like that with China?
Though that may sound like a really good idea, the sad part is that the Chinese do not accept foreigners. Unless there is a tournament in China, foreign players are not welcomed there. They like to maintain their secrecy. They take pride in their sport and sportsmen. In India, we still have a long way to go on that front.

Why do you think doubles gets step-motherly treatment back home?
I don't know the reason, but it is true. Even now the most important thing about our win here, is that we did it despite zero encouragement. Even the day we were leaving home for London, I remember, everything we were reading was all about Saina (Nehwal) and singles players. Saina was being touted as India's best hope. She's a fine player, but the doubles teams are also good. If Saina won gold at the Delhi Commonwealth Games, so did we. But even the media somehow choose to ignore us. Probably that's the reason we don't have
sponsors despite our success. But after winning here, I hope this attitude changes.
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Did you and Ashwini drop your guard a bit (in the semis), once the bronze medal was assured?
No, I don't think so. In fact, I thought we played well in the semi-final. We made a few silly errors and that cost us. That needs to improve. But overall, weu00a0 played a good game. There's not much of a difference between us and the Chinese. Maybe we lack a bit of consistency.

The fact that this is the very Wembley Arena that will host the badminton event of next year's Olympics, must hold you two in good stead?
Definitely! The World Championship is equivalent to the Olympics and so we are too happy to have done this here. But I believe the Olympics is still some time away. There are some important tournaments at hand in September and that's our immediate focus.

Your mother, Yelan told us that she'll be cooking some special Chinese food on your return. Looking forward to that?
Oh, is she? That'll be great! Normally, my mother is really busy, so I have to make do with food prepared by our cook, but now I'm excited. She's a great cook and I can't wait to dig into her Chinese food.