Aparna Popat

Aparna Popat

For a decade starting 1997, Aparna Popat remained the undisputed queen of Indian badminton. She won nine consecutive national singles titles – a record. Coached by Anil Pradhan, Prakash Padukone, Vimal Kumar and Ganguly Prasad at different stages of her illustrious career, Popat was the first woman shuttler to represent India at two successive Olympic Games (in 2000 and 2004). Achieving a best world ranking of 16, she won two singles medals and one team medal at the Commonwealth Games and was honoured with the Arjuna Award for the year 2005.