I'm country's best doubles player, my suggestions shouldn't be treated as criticism: Jwala Gutta

Jwala Gutta has questioned why people take her suggestions as criticism — especially because she would never do anything to harm the sport. “I’m the country’s best doubles player and if I say something, what stops people from taking it as a suggestion and not as a criticism. We are all part of the badminton fraternity and I will never do anything to harm the sport,” Gutta told Sportskeeda in an interview. Gutta added that everything she says is for the betterment of Indian badminton and that people should take her words in the right spirit and not ‘as anything else’. [caption id=“attachment_1631277” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Gutta and Ponnappa were left out of the first two lists of the Target Olympic Podium scheme (TOPs) before being inducted into the third list. Reuters[/caption] Speaking over the overall growth of the sport in India, Gutta said that it was not just one player who had contributed to it. “Let’s understand one thing – Indian badminton has grown in leaps and bounds over the years and this has happened not because of any one player, and we all, including me and Ashwini (Ponnappa) have also contributed towards it.” Gutta and her partner Ponnappa have risen to World No 12 in the badminton rankings and are gearing up for the World Championships which start in China on 10 August. The pair will take on the winners of the match between Canadians Alex Bruce and Phyllis Can and Taipei duo Hsieh Pei Chen and Wu Ti Jung. Gutta said that while achieving 12th ranking was good, breaking into the top 10 will need more consistency: “We have really worked hard to reach our career-best world ranking of 12, but to stay put in the top-10 is even more difficult. We have to be really consistent to stay in the top-10 for a longer period,” she said. This is the first major tournament India will go into after the hiring of specialist doubles coach Tan Kim Her. Gutta hailed the decision but said that the association should let the coach work without interference for the best results. Gutta and Ponnappa were left out of the first two lists of the Target Olympic Podium scheme (TOPs) before being inducted into the third list. “We are staying positive about it and hope we are part of the scheme,” Gutta said. Click here to read the full SportsKeeda interview.