A serious 3-vs-3 on badminton courts. Each match with 4 games, each game lasting 10 minutes, in which to score as many points as one can. And a barmy, noisy, shuttle-obsessed Indonesian crowd at the sport’s most iconic stadium – the Istora Senayan. Indian doubles Olympian Ashwini Ponnappa reckons the upcoming X-L, “a fun badminton event” around Halloween – starting at the end of this month – can cure nightmares like her Paris outing where she exited in tears, and help her tune back to the sport she loves.
Ashwini (33) is excited and reinvigorated at the prospect of heading to Jakarta for Badminton X-L – a glitzy team league taking place from October 31 to November 3. She is eager to soak in the unfettered adoration that’s extended to anyone at the Istora.
The venue is not only known to bring the roof down when badminton is hosted in that coliseum, but it will also treat fans to a completely new experience in the sport, a four-team league with some of the biggest names in the sport, and a wildly-innovated playing format.
Looking forward to playing at the BDMNTN-XL in Jakarta! 🤩
.#BDMNTNXL #LightningBXL ⚡ pic.twitter.com/OOFRmv8ktY— Ashwini Ponnappa (@P9Ashwini) October 13, 2024
The 3-vs-3 is usually a training drill in which players let their hair down, but are simultaneously tested on speed. “It’s usually just to unwind in practice. But at the X-L, it will be one of the team matches in proper competition mode,” Ashwini explains. “It’s very fast, challenging and entertaining and your reflexes have to be on point because the shuttle gets returned really quickly.”
The basketball-style four quarters of 10 minutes each is a completely new format. “It’s not a format we’ve played. You have to be mindful of time, It’s not score-based (first to 21). I can imagine how much fun it will be at Istora where you can’t even hear the shuttle being struck,” she adds.
Ashwini was approached to be part of the league even before the Olympics and agreed immediately. “One big tug for me was Indonesia’s former Olympic doubles champ Greysia Polii playing. But anything in Indonesia is fun, Istora is iconic, they love pure badminton, and crowds are passionate about players,” she explains. The team format will have men’s and women’s singles and doubles and the 3×3 show-stopper.
Listed on the team promos are Paris Olympics finalists Viktor Axelsen and Kunlavut Vitidsarn and eternally popular Hendra Setiawan and Lee Yong Dae, as well as Indonesian and Japanese heartthrobs Jonatan Christie and Yuta Watanabe respectively. Besides Ashwini, there’s classical favourites Ratchanok Intanon and Nozomi Okuhara, doubles stars Fajar Alfian and Seo Seung-jae, the cream of Malaysian doubles Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, as well as the mixed pairing Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei. “It will be loads of fun, but there’s also the absolute elite of badminton playing, many Olympic and World champions,” Ashwini says.
International comeback
The Paris Games ended up stressful and unrewarding for Ashwini, as she and Tanisha Crasto failed to win a single match. But a break, overdue, helped and she’s ready to hit the circuit again. “I’m taking it slow, but should be back on the Tour in November. I’d definitely like to get fitter because I enjoy playing and my goal is competition but with a changed mindset,” she says.
It was her first break switching off completely, in a long time. She travelled to the United States with husband Karan, entirely on a leisure trip, very different from travelling for tournaments. “My whole life has been about training on the court or off, recovering from injuries, and strengthening towards tournaments. When you are playing, it’s still about mindful rest, recovery and refuelling. But in the US, we walked around and cycled a lot, and for the first time I wasn’t worried about getting tired or not being ready for a match the next day.”
She was returning to the continent after a decade, and as such it was about sight-seeing, something she could never fit into tournament travel. “We made the semis in 2013 at the US Open, won Canada, and next year I couldn’t defend points as I got dengue. Never went there after that. So this time, I did the holiday stuff – went to New York’s High Line (an elevated greenway), that I always wanted to visit. The Natural History Museum, because I love dinosaurs, the Statue of Liberty, and cycled all around. Didn’t try food much,” Ashwini says, adding she will have her fill in Jakarta.
