Ace badminton player Saina Nehwal married shuttler Parupalli Kashyap on Friday. The couple posted identical photos across their social media handles with the caption “Best match of my life” with the hashtag ‘Just Married’.
Saina wore a violet and cream lehenga with floral embroidery, accessorized with a choker chain and matching earrings. While Saina was styled by costume designer Shravya Varma, her wedding attire and jewellery was by Hyderabad-based designer Vaishali Agarwal. The groom, Kashyap, was dressed in a pink bandhgala and kurta. The two posed for the camera with identical floral garlands around their neck.
Best match of my life ...#justmarried ☺️ pic.twitter.com/cCNJwqcjI5
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) December 14, 2018
The couple is expected to hold a wedding ceremony on December 16 at Hyderabad’s Novotel Hotel. The couple had put up many pictures of them handing over their wedding invitation cards to prominent celebrities in the city including actor Chiranjeevi, Telangana Rashtra Samithi working president KT Rama Rao, former cricketer V Chamundeswaranath, Governor ESL Narasimhan and their coach Pullela Gopichand.
Ur blessings means a lot chamundeswaranath uncle ..Thank u so much for supporting all the badminton players from hyderabad all these years pic.twitter.com/MO3MykBWer
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) December 4, 2018
Ms. Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap met Hon'ble Governor Sri E.S.L. Narasimhan and Smt. Vimala Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan today and extended their Wedding Invitation to the Governor and Lady Governor. pic.twitter.com/gHMqzwvDeW
— IPRDepartment (@IPRTelangana) December 3, 2018
It was lovely to meet you sir . Such an interesting conversation about ur career and ur truly an inspiration sir . Lovely to meet aunty too. Thank you sreeja for making this possible . #megastarchiranjeevi ... @parupallik @GuruSaiDutt1 pic.twitter.com/qiodDT8Xll
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) December 1, 2018
Thank you @KTRTRS sir. It was nice meeting you sir and discussing the development of Sport in Telangana. Hope to see you soon sir at the reception. @parupallik pic.twitter.com/7n11lakzlX
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) December 1, 2018
Kashyap had posted pictures of pre-wedding ceremonies on Thursday.
Saina earlier told the Times of India that they started travelling for bigger tours around 2007-08, which meant that they trained together, played tournaments together and with time, started paying more attention to each other’s game.
“In the competitive world that we live in, it’s difficult to get close to someone. But somehow we both found it easy to talk to each other and about our matches,” Saina said, adding that their bond grew stronger over time. She had also said that she and Kashyap help each other with their games and push each other. Further, he is getting into coaching, so he helps her with her game as well. As for her parents, Saina earlier revealed that she did not have to break the news about her relationship with Kashyap to them, as they already knew. “We used to be together most of the time and my parents also travelled with me, so they understood who I was close to and comfortable with even after my losses,” Saina said.
A former world no. 1, Saina has won over 23 international titles, which include ten Superseries titles. She is the first and only Indian woman till now to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympic games of Badminton and win a bronze medal. She also became the first Indian to win two singles gold medals in the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and 2018. She won the Arjuna Award in 2009 and the Padma Shri and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2010.
Kashyap is an Arjuna awardee, and was the only male Indian badminton player to reach the quarterfinals of men's singles at 2012 London Olympics at the time. At the Commonwealth Games in 2014, he also won the gold medal in men's singles.