A Father's Day Interview with Ace Badminton Player Ashwini Ponnappa

The Wooplr “Super Dad” series is brought to you in association with Gant in celebration of Father’s Day 2014.

Ashwini Ponnappa is an Indian Badminton player. She was a bronze medalist at the World Championships in 2011 with her doubles partner Jwala Gutta. She also an animal lover and avid traveler as is evident from her penchant for visiting animal parks and zoos. She’s currently working on helping street/stray dogs in India.

On shopping and hobbies

I listen to music a lot, and watch a lot of romantic movies! I also love to shop wherever I go and you will find me experimenting with new styles and colors. A few of my favourite brands are Promod, Pull & Bear, Zara.

The sports I play for fun are tables tennis, tennis and basketball. And of course hockey sometimes with dad and brother!”

She’s currently in Japan participating in the Yonex Open Superseries in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles events. Here the transcript of the email interview with Ashwini (printed verbatim).

Ashwini with her dad & mum

Are you a daddy’s girl or mumma’s girl?

As a kid I was more a daddy’s girl, now I’m more a mumma’s girl.

What’s the best piece of advice he’s given you?

My dad has always given me advice regarding my training and game. He used to travel with me for my matches when I was younger. One thing he’s always stressed on and still stresses on when he comes for my matches is doing a good warm up and cooling down after the match! Since he is a sportsperson himself, he knows what I need to do in order to play well. I’ve always liked having my dad coming for my matches and training me during the off season.

If your dad was a superhero, who do you think he had be?

He would be Superman!!

If you could buy any car for your dad, which one would it be?

I would buy him a Duster, as it’s spacious. My dad likes cars which have a lot of luggage space because of the amount of driving that is done back and forth between Coorg and Bangalore.

Which is his favourite sport?

My Dad’s an all-rounder. He not only played Hockey for the Karnataka State, but also played football, cricket, badminton & of course hockey, for RBI.
He likes playing Golf over the weekends at times.

Mention one thing you love most about your dad?

I love how my dad is always calm. He takes things as it comes and doesn’t worry too much.
One of the best things about my dad is how much he loves sports. It’s incredible how he can more or less play any sport. It’s always fun playing any sport with him.

If you could take your dad out for an evening anywhere where would you take him and why?

I’d take my dad to a place which has a lot of outdoor activities as he loves playing and being active. He loves bowling, playing golf, basically anything that brings out his competitive side.

Every father has his own set of Dad Jokes or 'DJokes'. What’s your dad’s favourite DJoke?