Indian badminton is more than just a one-woman show. While Saina Nehwal obviously leads the charge in singles, Jwala Gutta and V Diju’s mixed doubles victory at the Chinese Taipei this weekend signals a bright all-round future.

The world No 7 Indian pair’s Grand Prix Gold title lends teeth to Indian challenge at the Commonwealth Games and the Sudirman Cup, where the country has been a no-hoper in the doubles events. For the pair, the immediate target is breaking into the top five in the world.

“Winning a GP Gold title is huge as we wanted to cross this barrier. We didn’t want to lose our second final,” said Gutta, a day after settling scores with Hendra Aprida Gunawan and Vita Marissa. Gutta and Diju had lost to the Indonesian duo at the Indian Open GP Gold final.

The trick was to not repeat the mistakes and the Indians asserted their resolve to go the distance. “This time we didn’t hurry the pace when leading or trailing which triggers mistakes,” she said.

While the Indians won the final in straight games, it was the almost 90 minute long semi-final that had tested their patience, and forged a stronger intent to pick their first title. “It’s a good thing that we skipped Macau, otherwise we’d have been very tired for this one. Also we didn’t want to aggravate Diju’s back pain. We played good quality badminton here and are now looking to win Super Series titles,” Gutta said.

For the moment though, it’s party time. Gutta celebrates her birthday in a week’s time, while Diju heads home to Kerala for Onam before resuming training for the Japan Open Super Series. “We’re now looking to make quarters and semis — even finals — of Super Series,” the 29-year-old said.

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