Jwala Gutta (Born on 7 September 1983 in Wardha, Maharastra) is a left-handed Indian badminton player of mixed Chinese and Indian descent. Jwala is most successful doubles specialist from India, has represented the country at the international circuit since the late 1990s till 2017. Jwala with her successful career and frankly nature is one of the few identifiable female athletes of the country and has been listed several times among the top most inspiring sportswomen of India.
Jwala is one of the best women's doubles badminton players produced by India in recent times, a fourteen-time National Champion. Jwala is recognized for her skilled left-handed stroke-play and is one of the very few doubles players to use a forehand service. Jwala was also the wife of Chetan Anand, an Arjuna Awardee; however, the two divorced in 2010. According to a survey Jwala Gutta has outshined the badminton sensation Saina Nehwal on the popularity charts.
Gutta was born in Wardha, Maharastra and brought up in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, to an Indian father (Telugu speaking) and a Chinese mother. Her mother's grandfather, Tseng from Tianjin, was a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and stayed with him at Sevagram ashram, where he translated Gandhi's autobiography and other works into Chinese.
In the doubles event though, her performance has been better as entered the Semi Final round of her second International Doubles tournament, the India Asia Satellite tournament 2002. She also reached the Semi Final round of the Indian Asian Satellite tournament 2004, and finished Runner Up at the LE VOLANT D’OR Tournament, known as TOULOUSE Open in the year 2004. Further, she reached the Final Rounds of the Scottish International tournament 2004 and 40th Portuguese Badminton Championship 2004.
In the year 2006 she won the Sri Lanka International Satellite tournament while in the year 2007 she won the Cyprus Badminton International tournament. The same year, she also won at the Pakistan International Challenge tournament and the Indian International Challenge tournament. Apart from these achievements, Jwala won the Nepal International Series tournament 2008 and Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix 2008 in the Women’s Doubles category. She won a Gold medal in Women Doubles in Commonwealth Games 2010.
In the Mixed Doubles category too, Jwala has shown her excellence as she has grabbed the titles in the Jakarta Satellite tournament and Welsh International tournament in the year 2005, Sri Lanka International Satellite tournament, Cyprus Badminton International tournament and Indian International Challenge tournament in the year 2007, and Nepal International Series tournament, Bitburger Open Grand Prix tournament and KLRC Bulgaria Open Grand Prix tournament in the year 2008.
In December 2009 where she and her mixed doubles partner Diju reached the World Super Series masters final in Malaysia, where they went down to world championship bronze medalists Christinna Pedersen and Joaquim Nielsen 21-14, 21-18.
During her Badminton career, Jwala Gutta fell in love with fellow Badminton Player Chetan Anand, who was the 1999 Junior National Badminton Champion and 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010 Senior National Badminton Champion, and has been honored with an Arjuna Award. The couple married on 17 July 2005.More recently, there were rumours wide spread regarding her extra-marital affair.
Jwala Gutta has been awarded with the Arjuna Award on August 29, 2011. Jwala has brought numerous medals for Indian badminton including the bronze medal BWF World Championships in 2011 and a gold at 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games in women's doubles.
In 2011, Jwala Gutta made a history by being the 1st women doubles pair to win a bronze medal in world championships. On 28 July 2012, London Olympics , Jwala Gutta pairing with Ashwini Ponappa lost their opening women's double badminton match.
In 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Jwala won Silver medal in Women's Doubles event pairing with Ashwini Ponnappa. She was also a member of bronze medal winning team of 2014 Thomas & Uber Cup. Jwala won Women's Doubles Bronze medal in 2014 Gimcheon Asia Championships pair with Ashwini Ponnappa.
