Ashwini Ponnappa breaks down in tears after her last outing at Olympics

Indian women's doubles great Ashwini Ponnappa broke down in tears as she played her last Olympics in Paris on Tuesday.

Ashwini and her partner Tanisha Crasto were ousted from the Paris Olympics after they lost three consecutive matches at the group stage in the Paris Olympics.

In their final outing, Ashwini-Tanisha lost to the Australian pairing of Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu 15-21, 10-21 which marked the end of their campaign.

When asked whether she hopes to play in the 2028 Los Angeles Games, Ashwini said, "This will be my last, but Tanisha has a long way to go."

"It takes a toll emotionally and mentally, I can't go through this again. It is not easy, you can take all these if you are a little younger. Having played for so long, I can't take it anymore.” said the 34-year-old breaking into tears.

Ashwini, hailing from Coorg, is a veteran shuttler. She broke into the national circuit way back in 2001 when she won her first national title with Jwala Gutta.

The Ashwini-Jwala gave India some magical moments to cherish, taking us back to the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games where they won the gold medal and bronze at the Uber Cup (2014 and 2016) and the Asian Championships (2014).

In 2013, they also won the World Championships bronze, becoming the only Indian women's doubles pairing to achieve the feat.

"We wanted to get a win today. As much as we would have liked the outcome to be different and better, the biggest takeaway I and Tanisha had is we had quite a journey, getting to in the Olympics. It has not been easy," said Ashwini.

Tanisha also could not control her emotions and she sobbed inconsolably.

"She (Ashwini) has been my biggest support here. We had wanted a better result and held out heads high. She motivated me every time," said Tanisha.