Jwala, Ashwini target top-10 ranking by year end

Bubbling with new-found confidence after a successful Sudirman Cup campaign, promising women's doubles shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa said she and her partner Jwala Gutta can hope to be among the world's top-10 by the end of this year.

Ashwini and Jwala beat world number eight Thai pair Duanganong Aroonkesorn and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul in a crucial match in the second Group C tie of the Sudirman Cup in Qingdao, China recently which helped them reach the quarterfinals for the first time. 

Ashwini said the performance was a reflection of the hard work that they have put in. 

"We are very satisfied with our performance. It only shows that besides the top four, rest are beatable. To beat the top four we have to put in more hard work and we are training hard, we will be there soon," Ashwini told PTI.

"We have really put in a lot of hard work in the last few months and this win will boost our confidence to do well and qualify for the London Olympics," she added.

One half of the Commonwealth Games gold-medallist pair, Ashwini, said they are aiming to crack the top-10 by this year to boost their chances of qualifying for the 2012 mega-event. 

"We are currently 32 and the Sudirman Cup performance will improve our rankings. We are playing three back-to-back tournaments in June and after that we will have a month's break. 

"Hopefully we will be inside the top 10 by the year end," said Ashwini, who along with Jwala will play in Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia in June. 

Ashwini said she is looking forward to the one-month break after the three tournaments which would help them prepare better for the World Championships in August.