Jwala Gutta

She may have crashed out of the Singapore Open Superseries 2011 in the women’s double (21-17 21-14) to South Korean counterparts Kyung Eun Jung and Ha Na Kim, but she still manages to keep her cool. “Winning and losing are a part of our lives – we always learn from them. Everything depends on how we play,” says Jwala.

In tête-à-tête with FHM, the Indo-Chinese sounds relaxed and not too worried about her recent losses. Nor is she celebrating her new world ranking of 22 – a straight ten-place jump just yet and says, “It feels great and we hope to continue the same.”

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Her aggressive forehand, energetic running around and remarkable coordination with her partner breaks down the toughest opponents – the Chinese pairs too. Most credit her for the emotional win at the Commonwealth Games that tagged Gutta as one of the most bankable players in India. And she evoked strong reactions from us even though she doesn’t belong to the cricket fraternity.

However, she made it from the last page to the front of the tabloids thanks to her alleged link-up with former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin. Post the rumours, her image got tarnished, but she soon recovered and rubbished the news.

Regardless of all this, we still love our girl, especially with those envious long-legs (she stands tall at 5ft 10inches) standing out in a short skirt as she struts around the court smashing the shuttle. For many she is the desi Sharapova.

With that image embedded in our minds, we immediately remember the buzz about the skirt-scrapping rule. “It’s a good idea to not implement that rule. They should talk to a few players and understand the situation first.” Hopefully, she won’t give in to that rule.

Wins, losses and link-ups aside, Gutta is the newest singleton in town (If you can match her height, do try your luck). Opening up a little about her personal life, she admits to have ended her marriage with fellow badminton player Chetan Anand on August 5, 2010. Since then she has only been concentrating on her game. Today, she proudly rates herself as “good” compared to her counterparts and maintains the same opinion for her partner. “Ashwini Ponnappa is very talented and is growing with every tournament.”

An Arjuna Award and three time National Badminton Champion winner, she is still not a favourite of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) because of her outspoken and bold demeanour that has always resulted in conflicts – be it for the game or the injustice meted out to players.

Her latest squabble was pertaining to Azhar wanting to contest for the President's post of the BAI.

Letting go of the vexing present, Gutta happily rewinds her epic win at the Commonwealth for us. “The experience was great. The energy and the crowd was something we did not anticipate. It was great to see the support from our country. I couldn’t even hear myself,” she says.

With a gold medal in her kitty, pressure is mounting on her for the Olympics, but then she openly wears her ‘I-care-a-damn-attitude’. “We always live under pressure, be it any tournament. The ones who can deal with the pressure are the champions.”

Any special preparation? “All tournaments we play are a competitive practice for us. While we are competing, we are training. Apart from that we train six-hours a day.”

Surprisingly, a player of her calibre is stern on not entering the singles, even though the doubles are not taken seriously here. “There’s a misconception in our country that playing doubles is easier where as it is equally challenging. Doubles is a faster game and is also more thrilling.”

The fact is that India is a cricket-driven country, although lately many are changing their perspective towards other games. “The scenario is slowly changing. However, the other sport associations need to learn from how cricket has promoted itself.”

Apart from women’s doubles, her career stats also include mixed doubles, where she has excelled as well. “Technically, both the games are completely different from each other. When I’m playing mixed doubles I play in front and when I’m with Ashwini I’m at the back. Also, placing and receiving the shuttle varies in both games.”

Badminton is definitely her passion, but movies and friends too keep her itinerary full. That’s not all – fashion is important to her and we can happily blame her for bringing it on to the court. These days Jwala is a fashion icon both on-and-off the court and can give the Russian chicas a run for their money.

“I believe as long as it (fashion) is helping the sport in some way, there’s nothing wrong with it. It should be healthy, that’s all.”

Whilst her sexy dance moves crushed hearts at the recent Sahara Awards, FHM (with immense pleasure) included her in the 100 Sexiest Women of the World list thanks to your votes.

In our rapid-fire round, she names Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal, Pullela Gopichand and Aparna Popat as the best shuttlers of India. She also thinks that boxers, shooters and wrestlers have great prospects at the upcoming Olympics. In the meantime, she’s preparing to compete in the World Championship and Indonesian Open later this year.

Before she gasps for a breath, in between our questions we throw out another one – her best score. “I don’t remember scores, I just remember my wins,” she shoots back.

From the July 2011 issue of FHM India.