Badminton doubles players don’t get the sort of support singles players do in India, shuttler Jwala Gutta said on Wednesday. She added that unless conditions improve, the country can never become a dominant force in the sport, reported PTI.
“We have always been critical of doubles performances,” the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist said. “The consistent support that singles players are getting is way more than doubles, it is 100:1. We hardly get any support, the only support we get is from the government, but it is not enough if we have to perform consistently at the highest level.
“The singles players are doing well and they are also being supported more. You have to analyse why doubles is not doing well. Doubles have zero support as of now even now in terms of sponsorship, medical support, nutrition.
“We have always been given step-motherly treatment and nothing has changed in all these years. We are here only because we want to be here and there is no support. Probably this is the last phase of my career, but then we still don’t have the doubles culture. We don’t want to understand what sort of support or lack of it is there in India. It takes guts to take up doubles in India.”