Jwala Gutta

Yelan first came to India in 1977 with her grandfather to visit the Sevagram ashram, where she translated Gandhi's autobiography and other works into the Chinese language.

Gutta has a younger sister, Insi Gutta.

Initially inclined towards playing tennis, Gutta shifted to badminton at the insistence of her mother.

She was introduced to the national badminton coach S. M. Arif, by her father at the age of four.

Arif recommended her to learn gymnastics or swimming for a couple of years before starting training for badminton.

Gutta later started training under Arif, at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium.

Gutta started playing badminton at the age of six.

Her chief achievement as a youngster was to win the Under-13 Girls Mini National Badminton Championship held at Thrissur, Kerala.

Jwala Gutta (born 7 September 1983) is an Indian badminton player.

Jwala Gutta was born on 7 September 1983 in Wardha, Maharashtra and brought up in Hyderabad, Telangana, to a Chinese mother and a Telugu father.

Jwala's father, Kranti Gutta, hailed from a family of Leftists from Peddapuliveru in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district.

Her mother, Yelan Gutta, was born in China and is a granddaughter of a Gandhian named Zeng.

Beginning in the late 1990s, she represented India at international events in both mixed and women's doubles.

She has a total of 316 match wins in both the disciplinesthe most by any Indianand peaked at no. 6 in the world rankings.

In 2000, Gutta (aged 17) won the Junior National Badminton Championship.

The same year, she also won the Women's Doubles Junior National Championship and the Senior National Badminton Championship, both in partnership with Shruti Kurien.

This association was to last several years, and the pairing of Gutta and Shruti Kurien won the Women's Doubles National title for seven years in succession, from 2002 to 2008.

Gutta likes playing aggressive badminton and has a great affinity for the front court, with her skilled netplay, good anticipation and the ability to play deceptive strokes at the net.

She is considered very dangerous in the front court with her good reading of the game and sharp interceptions.

She also has a strong smash from the back court and often makes use of deceptive drops.

Gutta is vulnerable in a few areas of her game, most evidently in her movement across the court.

She can commit certain unforced errors when forced to move out of her favoured positions.

She has also had some fitness issues and injury troubles in her long career.

Gutta is also known for being one of the only top doubles player to still use the forehand service, since most other doubles specialists opt for the safer backhand serve.

Gutta was married to badminton player Chetan Anand from 2005 to 2011.

Gutta has won medals at numerous tournaments on the BWF circuit including a silver at the 2009 Superseries Masters Finals and a bronze at the 2011 World Championships.

Born in Wardha to a Chinese mother and a Telugu father, she began playing badminton at a young age.

A fourteen-time National Champion, Gutta played with Shruti Kurien earlier in her career, but found greater international success with Ashwini Ponnappa.

Gutta has been credited to have brought recognition for doubles badminton in India, first with her mixed doubles partner Diju with whom she peaked at no. 6 in 2010 becoming the first doubles partnership from the country to be ranked amongst the top-10 and later with her partnership with Ponnappa in women's doubles.

Gutta has won numerous medals for Indian badminton including the bronze medal 2011 BWF World Championships in London and a gold and silver at 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games respectively in the women's doubles event which were the first for the country in the discipline.

Other achievements include the historic bronze medal at the 2014 Thomas & Uber Cup held at New Delhi, a bronze medal at Badminton Asia Championships in the same year and final and semi-final appearances in many big international events most notably the finals appearance at the 2009 BWF Super Series Masters Finals, alongside Diju which was the first for the country in any discipline.

The pair consistently figured among the top-twenty in the BWF World Ranking reaching as high as no. 10 in 2015.

Gutta is the first badminton player of Indian to qualify for two events in the Olympics–women's doubles with Ponnappa and mixed doubles with V. Diju at London.

Gutta is known for her skilled left-handed stroke-play and is one of the very few doubles players to use a forehand service.

She paired with Ponappa at the Rio 2016 Olympics where the pair crashed out in the group stage with two consecutive losses at the hands of opponents from Japan and Netherlands.

Gutta has won medals at all major international badminton tournaments and multi-sport events, except for the Olympics.

In addition to her badminton career, Gutta has been vociferous for the issues she advocates for, ranging from fair treatment in sports, health and education, women's empowerment and gender equality.

She has been listed several times among the top most inspiring sportswomen of India.

She was awarded the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award for her achievements.

She told ESPN that she was contemplating retirement, after entering negotiations for a coaching role for BAI in May 2017.