India ace shuttler Jwala Gutta says her mother picked an indoor sport so that she wouldn't get tanned
India's glamorous shuttler Jwala Gutta has achieved numerous laurels on the badminton court, but it was a tennis racquet that she first picked, albeit not for long, thanks to her mother Yelan. "I started playing tennis initially as a kid, but my mother thought that I would get tanned playing outdoors, so she decided that I should play an indoor sport and that's how badminton happened. I was around nine or 10 then," Gutta said recently during an online comedy chat show, Son of Abhish.
Jwala Gutta
It was Gutta's dad Kranti who decided that young Jwala should take up a career in sport after facing strong criticism from family members for being the first girl in the family. "I was not very welcomed. Some of my family members would tell dad, 'Better luck next time.' That's when my father decided that he would make me something and so enrolled me into sports," she added.
Life now for Gutta, 34, currently on a sabbatical, is good. "I was so busy making my career in badminton that I didn't have time to make friends, that's the reason I only have six friends. Now, I have taken a break, but my friends are busy working, but somehow we've planned a holiday to Sri Lanka for New Year's, so I'm looking forward to that," she said.