For nine straight years, the women’s singles title at the Indian national championships had one name on it. Aparna Popat dominated domestic badminton from the late 1990s into the mid-2000s, won India’s first medal at the World Junior Championships, collected four Commonwealth Games medals and played at two Olympic Games. She held the fort for Indian women’s singles until Saina Nehwal arrived.
Name: Aparna Popat | Born: 18 January 1978, Mumbai, Maharashtra | Sport: Badminton | Event: Women’s singles
Early years in Mumbai
Popat started playing at the age of eight in Mumbai, where her first coach was Anil Pradhan at the Cricket Club of India. Talent showed early. She won the national under-12 title in 1989 and kept rising through the age groups. In 1994 she moved to Bangalore to train at the Prakash Padukone academy, where Vimal Kumar was among those who coached her. The move put her in a demanding daily routine alongside some of the best players in the country.
A first for India at the World Juniors
The move paid off quickly. At the 1996 World Junior Championships in Silkeborg, Denmark, Popat reached the girls’ singles final. She lost to Yu Hua of China, but the silver medal was India’s first at the event. It marked her out as the country’s most promising woman player and she reached a career-high world ranking of 16 within the next few years.
Nine national titles in a row
Popat won her first senior national singles title in 1998 and did not let go of it. Year after year she returned to the nationals and won, beating the record of seven straight titles held by Madhumita Bisht from 1984 to 1990. In February 2006 she claimed the title for a ninth successive year. Few Indian players in any racket sport have controlled their domestic scene for so long.
Commonwealth Games medals
The 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur produced the best result of her senior career. She reached the women’s singles final and took silver behind Kelly Morgan of Wales. At the same Games she helped India win bronze in the women’s team event. That year she also won the French International, the Sri Lanka International and the India International.
Four years later in Manchester she added a bronze in the women’s singles. At Melbourne in 2006 she was part of the Indian squad that took bronze in the mixed team event, giving her four Commonwealth medals from three Games.
Two Olympic Games
Popat qualified for the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and was India’s only woman badminton player there. The build-up was difficult. She had taken a cold medicine containing a banned substance, and the sport’s world governing body imposed a three-month ban that was later lifted. She returned to competition and kept her place at the top in India.
In Athens in 2004 she went further, reaching the pre-quarter-finals before losing in three games to Mia Audina of the Netherlands. She remained a semi-finalist calibre player on the European circuit for several seasons, with a run to the last four of the Swedish Open among her better results.
Arjuna Award and the end of an era
Recognition from the government came late. The Arjuna Award was held back for some time because of the earlier doping case, but she received it in 2005. By then she had been India’s top woman player for most of a decade.
A long-running injury to her right wrist troubled her from 2005 onwards. She still won the national title in February 2006, but the problem worsened and she stepped away from top-level competition while still ranked India’s No. 1. Her departure cleared the way for Saina Nehwal, who would take Indian women’s badminton to Olympic and world-level success.
Life after badminton
Popat worked for Indian Oil Corporation in Mumbai until 2015. She was selected as the only Indian on the Global Sports Mentoring Programme and later coached the Mumbai Masters franchise in the first season of the Indian Badminton League. She has since spoken widely about pressure, purpose and the role of sport in education.
Career record and honours
- World Junior Championships: silver, girls’ singles, Silkeborg 1996 (India’s first medal at the event)
- Commonwealth Games: silver, women’s singles, Kuala Lumpur 1998
- Commonwealth Games: bronze, women’s team, Kuala Lumpur 1998
- Commonwealth Games: bronze, women’s singles, Manchester 2002
- Commonwealth Games: bronze, mixed team, Melbourne 2006
- Olympic Games: Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 (pre-quarter-finals)
- Senior national singles champion nine years in a row, 1998 to 2006
- International titles include the French International, Sri Lanka International and India International in 1998
- Career-high world ranking: 16
- Arjuna Award: 2005
