One of the former Indian badminton players, Aparna Popat holds the record for winning the National Senior Women`s Badminton title for the highest number of times consecutively. She has also excelled in several international badminton championships.
Early Life of Aparna Popat
Aparna Popat was born on the January 18th, 1978 at Mumbai. She studied at the J.B. Petit School and completed her education from Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru in the Indian state of Karnataka. She went on to complete a Bachelor`s degree in Commerce from the University of Mumbai in Maharashtra.
Career of Aparna Popat
Aparna Popat started playing badminton in 1986, when she was merely 8 years old. While initially more inclined to tennis, but a lack of good facilities, and an early recognition in badminton put an end to her tennis aspirations. Popat was spotted by Anil Pradhan, the Badminton Coach at the Cricket Club of India who himself was a National Doubles Champion. He encouraged Aparna to take the sport of badminton seriously. By age 13 years she had won several tournaments and had matured to an excellent badminton player. In 1994, Aparna Popat moved to Prakash Padukone`s Badminton Academy based at Bengaluru to further sharpen her playing skills.
In 1989, Popat defeated Neelima Chaudhary to win the National Under- 12 Badminton Championship held at Bengaluru. The first Senior National Championship victory of Aparna Popat came in 1997, where she defeated Manjusha Pawangadkar at Pune. After her first victory, Aparna created history by winning the National Senior Championship title consecutively for a record number of 9 times till 2006. By winning this title for 9 times in a row, Aparna Popat broke the record of Madhumita Bisht who won this title consecutively for 7 times from 1984 to 1990.
Aparna Popat also made her presence felt in the international badminton arena. In the year 1996, she participated in the World Junior Badminton Championship held at Denmark where she won a Silver Medal. She secured a Silver medal again at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998. In that same year she formed a new record by becoming the first Indian female player to win the French Open title. She won a Bronze at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and reached the Semi Final round of the Swedish Open Badminton Tournament. At the age of 27 years, Aparna won the last of her 9 Senior Nationals titles after defeating the 15 year old Saina Nehwal.
Currently, Aparna is employed with Indian Oil Corporation in Mumbai.
Chronological Achievements of Aparna Popat
Listed below are the chronological achievements of Aparna Popat:
| Year | Won |
| 1989 | Won the National title (Under-12) |
| 1990 | Runner up in the Sub-junior girls category (Under-15) |
| 1991 | Won the Sub-junior girls title (Under-15) |
| 1992 | Represented India at the World Junior Championships held at Jakarta |
| 1993 | Won the Junior National title (Under-18) |
| 1994 | Represented India at the World Junior Championships held at Kuala Lampur |
| 1995 | Finalist at the Senior Nationals. |
| 1996 | Won Bronze at Prince Asian Junior Championship at Hong Kong. |
| 1997 | Won Senior National title |
| 1998 | Won a Silver and Bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games |
| 1999 | Won Gold medal at the Asian Satellite Tournament |
| 2000 | Represented India at Sydney Olympic Games 2000 |
| 2001 | Won Gold medal at the Asian Satellite Tournament |
| 2002 | Lone Indian medalist at the Commonwealth Games and won a Bronze in the Women`s singles |
| 2003 | Won Gold medal at the Asian Satellite Tournament |
| 2004 | Retained the Senior National Title and represented India in the 2nd Olympic Games at Athens |
| 2005 | Retained the Senior National Title |
| 2006 | Won her 9th Senior National Title but retired after her wrist injury |
