Ashwini plays singles after 4 years, beats Chandana

Ace Indian shuttler Ashwini Ponappa today returned to the singles event after a gap of four years with a win over Siri Chandana to reach the second round of the 2014 Canara Bank All-India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament, here.

Ashwini beat the Andhra girl 15-8 15-6 in the first round of the event which began at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy.

Ashwini, Commonwealth Gold Medalist and World Championships Bronze Medalist in Women's Doubles, had played her last singles match in 2010 Senior National Badminton Championship at Guwahati.

Speaking to PTI after her match, Ashwini said she was playing singles to gain confidence going into the bigger international events like Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
"Playing and winning singles will give confidence to me before I face bigger international challenges this year," she said.

However, she has not set her eyes on playing singles in international events. "I haven't given a thought about it," Ashwini added.

The first day of the tournament witnessed more than 300 matches in the qualifying rounds of four events.

Qualifying rounds were played at over three games of 15 points with possible extension of up to 21.

Three rounds of men's singles and two rounds of men's doubles were also played.