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What’s the story?
Two of India’s marquee shuttlers, Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap tied the knot on Friday. Nehwal and Kashyap broke the news on their respective social media accounts, posting a couple of their wedding photos with the caption the “best match of my life”.
The announcement was a complete surprise as, according to earlier reports, the grand union was supposed to take place on December 16.
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In case you didn’t know
The 28-year-old Nehwal and the 32-year-old Kashyap's marriage is the latest in a long line of success stories of romance on the badminton court. Their coach Pullela Gopichand married eight-time national champion PVV Lakshmi among the high-profile badminton alliances in the country, which also includes Syed Modi and Ameeta Kulkarni,
Outside India too, quite a few star shuttlers met their match on the badminton court. Lin Dan tied the knot with former World No. 1 Xie Xinfang while Lee Chong Wei married Commonwealth Games silver medallist Wong Mew Choo. Chris and Gabrielle Adcock remain one of the most popular married couples on the BWF circuit.
The heart of the matter
Cupid struck Kashyap and Nehwal when they met for training at the Pullela Gopichand Academy around 14 years ago. The two remained highly reticent about their relationship until a year back when they became more open and started posting photos of themselves on social media.
Even though it sparked rumours, the two never publicly acknowledged their romance. It was only after the Asian Games in September that it finally became official.
The former World No. 1 Saina has been widely praised for never letting her private life become an obstacle to her hunger and motivation to scale the heights in her sport. That she managed to fully devote herself to badminton and achieve so much, despite being in such a long relationship, is laudable.
Kashyap too has done very well, winning the Commonwealth Games gold in 2014 and reaching a career-high ranking of No. 6. Frequent injuries since then haven’t given him a chance to build on his consistency and he was recently seen coaching Nehwal in her last few tournaments of this season.
What’s next?
Nehwal and Kashyap will be having their wedding reception in Hyderabad on Sunday. The two have shared several photos of themselves handing over invitation cards to distinguished guests for a while now.
Pour your congratulatory messages for the newly-married couple in the comments section below.
