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Popat qualifies for Olympics

India's No. 1 women's badminton player Aparna Popat, who was slapped with a three-month ban by the International Badminton Federation on March 13 for inadvertently taking a banned substance, has qualified for the Sydney Olympics.

Confirming the news in Bangalore on Friday, Karnataka Badminton Association secretary S S Mani said a letter to this effect has been received from the IBF.

Twenty-two-year-old Popat thus becomes only the third Indian woman shuttler after Madhumita Bisht (1992) and P V V Lakshmi (1996) to qualify for an Olympic Games.

"All of us are excited about the news. I have terrific responsibility on my shoulders and I hope I will live up to the expectations," a beaming Popat said.

The Indian women's champion was first on the list of reserves for the Olympics. It is learnt that she made the grade after Sweden's Marina Andrievskaya - a former Russian player, failed in her bid to acquire Swedish citizenship.

The IBF had banned Popat after traces of a banned substance, Phenylpropanolamine, were detected in a random drug test on her during the Thomas/Uber Cup preliminaries in New Delhi earlier this year.

Popat, in her explanation, stated that she had taken an over-the-counter drug, named D'Cold Total, to treat cold and flu, unaware that the medication contained the banned substance.

Speaking about her costly lapse, Popat said: "I pray to God I don't catch a cold; I certainly will not take any medicine."