It’s been the season of star weddings in India. #DeepVeer kept everyone hooked, and Priyanka Chopra is set to tie the knot with Nick Jonas. But the tie-up awaited by the Indian sporting community is that of Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap – and the invites to the union of the two badminton stars have found their way to the internet.
The duo – both Commonwealth Games gold medallists (Nehwal 2018, Kashyap 2014) – are getting married in Hyderabad on 16 December, and two versions of their wedding card emerged on social media on Tuesday, 27 November.
One of the invites comes from the soon-to-be hitched couple, calling on the invited guests to grace the Novotel Hotel in Hyderabad by 7:00 pm on Sunday, 16 December. The second, pictured below, is an invitation from Saina’s parents, Usha Rani and Dr. Harvir Singh, according to which the ceremony kick-starts at 6:30 pm.
Saina and Kashyap’s ringing in of wedding bells comes after a reported ten-year dating spell – which both had repeatedly denied over the years. The star shuttlers first met when they began training under Pullela Gopichand in 2005, and have gone on to spend a vast amount of time in each other’s company while representing the country.
“We started travelling for bigger tours from 2007-08 onwards. We played tournaments together, trained together and slowly, started paying more attention to each other's matches,” Nehwal had said while announcing the wedding in October.
In the competitive world that we live in, it is difficult to get close to someone. But somehow we both found it very easy to talk to each other, talk about our matches. The feeling gradually grew.Saina Nehwal
The wedding is sure to be a coming together of the entire Indian badminton fraternity, some of whom have already started pulling the pair’s legs on Twitter.
Reports suggest the wedding, on 16 December, is set to be a private affair with only about 100 guests in attendance. But Saina and Kashyap are likely to follow it up with a lavish, star-studded reception – although no date has been confirmed for the same.
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