Saina, Purupalli to become life partners

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, September 26

Hisar-born badminton World No 1 and Olympic medal winner Saina Nehwal appears all set to tie the nuptial knot with Commonwealth Gold Medallist Purupalli Kashyap sometime in December.

Sources say that the two have been good friends for the past decade and have been in touch from the times of their coaching at a local Gopichand academy way back in 2005.

Rumours had gone abuzz during the 2012 London Olympics, but the two had played it down by avoiding public gaze.

They were almost seen together along with group of other friends hanging out like any youngsters, said someone aware of their relationship.

According to the grapevine, they are planning to marry on December 16. Their proposed marriage has been reported in local media.

A recipient of nation’s highest award like the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and civilian awards, including Padam Bhushan and Padam Shri, March 1990 born Saina is a former World No. 1 and has won 23 international titles, including 10 Superseries titles.

A World No 2 in 2009, she became the World No 1 in 2015. Her major achievements include the Commonwealth Gold in 2010 and 2018 and an Olympic Bronze in 2012. Purupalli is an Arjuna award winner and ranked World No 6 in 2013, besides winning the Commonwealth Gold in 2014.  

Both Saina and Purupalli coached under Pullela Gopichand, who became the second Indian after Prakash Padukone to win the All England Open Badminton Championship in 2001. He now runs a badminton training academy in Hyderabad.

Besides, Saina and Purupalli, he has the distinction of training several top badminton players PV Sindhu and Srikanth Kidambi.

Sources said that the couple had decided to have a quiet wedding on December 16 with only about a hundred guests. Bigger celebrations will follow with a reception on December 21.

It was after Saina’s Commonwealth Gold win at the Gold Coast earlier this year that Saina for the first time acknowledged the role of Purupalli in motivating her to keep her momentum in the game.

After that she had posted some pictures of them together on social media.

In 2014, Saina moved to Bengaluru to train under coach Vimal Kumar, but the two maintained close contact, yet never let the relationship come between her and the game, it is said.

Since Saina was born in Haryana, the Haryana Government had proposed to give her land for a coaching academy in 2016. It is not as if Saina was not aware about the troubles faced by women in Haryana, she once said in an interview that her grandmother wanted a boy and was not very pleased when she was born.

She said she understood the discrimination against girls in Haryana when her grandmother refused to see her even a month after her birth. This was one of the motivations that made her train hard to become the best sought after women sportsperson in the country.