Badminton players Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap to exchange vows: Report

Badminton stars Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap are ready to enter into a new partnership, however, not on the court as the duo are set to tie the knot on December 16, according to reports.

The shuttlers are going to get married in a private ceremony which will be followed by a grand reception slated for December 21, a report in the Times of India said.

"Both families had been planning the wedding for a while now. They have finalised the date. The arrangements are all for December 16," the report quoted a source as saying.

Both Saina and Kashyap have repeatedly maintained that they were just friends and practice partners.

32-year-old Kashyap, an Arjuna Awardee, became the first Indian to reach the men's singles quarterfinals at the 2012 London Olympics.

Kashyap, who clinched gold in Commonwealth Games 2004, once reached world no. 6 ranking in 2013 but his progress was later marred by long spells of injury.

The report further claims that Saina and Kashyap have been in a relationship for about 10 years now but successfully managed to keep it hidden.

Saina and Kashyap, the 2014 CWG gold medallist, first met at the Pullela Gopichand badminton academy where they have been training since 2005.

Both shuttlers are teammates at Awadhe Warriors in the Premier Badminton League (PBL).

It has been a good season for Saina, who made a comeback after battling a knee injury for months.

Last month Saina settled for the bronze medal in the Asian Games in the women's singles after losing to world No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan. It was her first medal at the Asiad and the first singles medals at the Games for India in 36 years before PV Sindhu bagged a silver.

After clinching the bronze medal, Saina had included Kashyap's name in her thank you note on twitter along with coach Gopichand and her physios.

"I would like to thank Gopi Sir for all the hardwork and support ... also @parupallik for giving me great match inputs and for helping me in sessions before the #AsianGame2018 ... lot of efforts of Physios would like to thank @ArvindDNigam4 and Kiran challagundla sir," Saina tweeted.