After HC lifts life ban on her, defiant shuttler says she did nothing wrong
India’s top doubles shuttler Jwala Gutta yesterday said she and her partner Ashwini Ponappa have not yet received any communication from the Badminton Association of India (BAI) on whether or not they would be playing in the Denmark Open Super Series Premier which starts on Tuesday.
Jwala Gutta during the 2012 India Open at the in New Delhi. Pic/AFP.
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The Delhi High Court had on Thursday directed BAI to allow Jwala to participate in tournaments and suspended the life ban, which had been slapped on her by BAI’s disciplinary committee for delaying an IBL match.
However, the court directed the association to forthwith withdraw the communication sent to the organisers of the tournament on withdrawing her name, and permit her to participate. Claiming that she had done nothing wrong, Jwala said she was not scared when she first heard of the recommendation for life ban.
“This has not scared me. I’ll continue to play. Nobody on this earth can stop me from playing. It’s my right,”u00a0Jwala said she tried her best and spoke to BAI president Akhilesh Das Gupta and also chief national coach Pullela Gopichand “but nobody was willing to understand”. “I was not supposed to talk to media but before they gave me any notice they talked to media and said we will ban her for life which was uncalled for. I have not committed any crime. I didn’t dope, I have not done any match fixing. I didn’t kill anybody. I don’t understand what this life ban is for.”
Jwala said there was no official communication so far from BAI. “They should have told me by now. If I don’t get a visa today that means I can’t play the tournament as Saturday and Sunday are holidays for the Danish embassy,” she said.
Jwala hoped that their entries would at least be sent for the French Open and Bitburger Open later this month. “I hope justice will be done and Ashwini and I get to play. There are important tournaments next year. We are defending champions of the Commonwealth Games, next year. We need to play before that,” she added.
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