Aparna Popat: Indian sports is looking up and it’s only going to get better

Aparna Popat hailed the Indian men’s badminton team’s triumph at the Thomas Cup last year as a ‘special moment for Indian sports.’

Former India badminton player Aparna Popat.

Two-time Olympian Aparna Popat hailed the Indian men’s badminton team’s triumph at the Thomas Cup last year as a ‘special moment for Indian sports.’

“The Thomas Cup victory was a very special one because it was a gold medal at a world championship team event, which is something distinct coming in an individual sport like badminton,” said Popat, who is part of the jury for the Sportstar Aces Awards.

“It’s not only that we won the tournament but also because we won beating dominant nations like Indonesia and Denmark, who are known for their prowess in the sport. We really punched above our weight. To be fair, we had a great team with great potential but to come out and win when it mattered was extremely special,” the Olympian said.

Popat, who is a four-time Commonwealth Games medallist, noted that sports in the country have grown from strength to strength in the last few years. “Indian sports has been doing really well and every year has been special because we have seen our champions come out and reinforce their dominance in their respective sports. We have then seen a host of youngsters come up and come up with pathbreaking performances. Every year, Indian sports is looking up and it’s only going to get better as we see so muchb support and awareness for sports in India in general,” she said.

Reflecting on Indian badminton’s overall showing in the year gone by, she said, “We performed extremely well especially Satwik [Rankireddy] and Chirag [Shetty]. Lakshya Sen has been a great talent and has come into his own with great results. Having said that, it is again the big events where we need performances. Earlier, we were looking for one medal, but now we can safely say we are looking for multiple medals in events like Olympics and Asian Games. We are hoping to secure those medals and cement our position in the world of badminton.”

Popat said the jury process for this year’s awards wasn’t a straightforward affair, needing quite a bit of deliberation to choose the winners

“The 2023 jury meeting was an extended one because we had 28 categories to look at. What is special about these Sportstar awards are the commitment to honour as many sporting heroes as possible. In that process, we have to take utmost care, with complete facts, patiently taking into accounbt multiple perspectives and opinions and looking at performances from different angles. It was a fruitful one, and in the end, we have come up with deserving winners,” she said.

The Sportstar Aces Awards will be held in Mumbai on February 27. The event is powered by IDFC First Bank and supported by Indian Oil, India Cements, United India, Ramaiah University, Experimenta Science Center GD Naidu Charity, Finolex Pipes, LIC, BPCL, Samsonite, Big Basket, Nippon Paint, CRICHQ and Casagrand.