'Jwala the brain, Ashwini the working machine'

Danish World No.2 women's doubles shuttlers Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl believe that India's Jwala Gutta the "brain" and Ashwini Ponnappa the "machine" make a fine pair.

"Jwala is good at reading the game. She has produced some good results with Ashwini. I think Jwala is more the brain and Ashwini the working machine but that is a good combination in doubles," Kamilla, who won the 2009 World Championship mixed doubles title in Hyderabad with compatriot Thomas Laybourn, told IANS here.

"They can do much better but it takes a lot of practice to come into the top-4 of the world. It is a shame they didn't play some tournaments together, but they are now back again, it is important to get a lot of matches together."

Kamilla, seeded No.1 with Christinna at the ongoing India Open, said that if the Indian combine want to repeat the success of the past, they must play a lot more together to bring stability to their game.

"Our game has become stable because Christinna and I play a lot together. Earlier in the first two years of our partnership, there were more ups and downs. It is the same with Jwala and Ashwini. They play really good but they have ups and downs all the time. But if they can practice and play a lot of tournaments together, they can do well," added Kamilla, who also bagged the 2013 World Championship bronze with Christinna.

Christinna said the focus here is more on singles.

"It is about having focus and ambition for doubles. I feel if you are a singles player in India, you have a lot more attention. But it is great to watch doubles as it is a lot faster. In singles, they have a lot of good players at the top, but they have potential to do really well in doubles," said Christinna, who also has a mixed doubles bronze each from the 2009 World Championships and 2012 Olympics with compatriot Joachim Fischer Nielsen.

Kamilla reiterated the point, like many others have in the past, that it is high time India hire a specialist doubles coach for the national team to raise the standard a notch higher.

"India should have a specialist doubles coach who can bring more focus on doubles, as Christina said. Indian players have talent and technique so they can produce some good doubles players," said Kamilla, who plans to go around India in May when she comes back for the Uber Cup.

"Last year we visited Old Delhi which was quite an experience. We want to see the Taj Mahal. We would like to take a day off as a tourist in May and travel," concluded Christinna.

(Sandip Sikdar can be contacted at sandip.s@ians.in)