They say marriages are made in heaven. This surely matches one. By the admission of the bride and groom, it did bloom on a flight, mid-air.
When PV Sindhu ended her campaign at the Paris Olympics, it was far from ideal. She lost in the first knockout game of the event. After winning two back-to-back medals at the Olympics (Rio and Tokyo), this came as a big setback. Yet she looked composed meeting the assembled media, answering questions with her hallmark calmness. There was no inkling of an impending wedding bell. All she wanted was to take a break and then think about the future.
Just like her incredible retrievals from insane angles and corners, no one saw this coming. Like her drop shots, this was deceptive. About four months ago, Sindhu surprised the world when she announced her marriage through a social media post.
The curiosity grew when the name of the fiance was announced. It was not some celebrity but an IT professional. Venkata Datta Sai is not from sports background either. By his own admission, managing the Delhi Capitals, the IPL team while working with JSW, was the closest he had come to sports. But as Sindhu’s online post says quoting Khalil Gibran, “When love beckons to you, follow him, for love gives naught but itself.” Love it is then.
Just weeks before the announcement, the double Olympic medallist unveiled the new logo of Posidex Technologies, where her now husband is an executive director. He is the son of GT Venkateshwar Rao, managing director at Posidex and a former member of the Indian Revenue Service.
Sindhu’s father PV Ramana told this newspaper that the two families were friends and had known each other for a long time. The company where Sai works deals in customer master data management solutions for leading banks and non-banking financial institutions.
The marriage grabbed headlines. Sindhu and Sai chose Udaipur, one of the iconic destination wedding locations in the country. They wanted to have a quiet and traditional wedding with the near and dear ones. One of the most celebrated sportspersons in India, who once topped Forbes’ highest-earner (Olympic sports) charts, got married on December 22 with about 150 people in attendance. This was followed by a high-profile reception in Hyderabad.
“The selection of venue as Udaipur was the choice of bride and groom as they like the city,” revealed Ramana. Organising the marriage and various other ceremonies within a month and crisscrossing the country to invite dignitaries, including the Prime Minister, had its own challenges. The couple and their families planned it to perfection. “Obviously it was challenging as many arrangements were needed to be done. But we did it all meticulously and did not leave any gap,” said Ramana.
Their relationship started blossoming in October 2022. “We were family friends since about 2013 and reconnected on a flight,” Sindhu told a TV channel just before marriage. “Once on the flight, we met and then we started talking.” Sai, has his own take too. “Funnily enough, it was a Vistara flight from Hyderabad to Delhi,” he had said. “I always tell people, she is the one who messaged me first and called me. After the Olympics, that’s when we decided to get together.”
Sindhu’s father elaborated on the wedding. “We left for Udaipur on December 19 and returned to Hyderabad on December 23 evening. From the 19th to the 22nd, marriage and other functions took place.” Ramana said the reception on December 24 in Hyderabad was a grand affair. “It was attended by around 7,000 people,” he said. “On December 25 a special pooja was conducted for the bride and groom as per our tradition. Then on December 26, we went to Tirupati, Padmavati temple and on 27th morning, we went to the Tirumala Hills.”
One of the most accomplished sportspersons in the country finally got hitched at the age of 29 after winning Olympic and world championship medals for India. Like she had said in Paris after the loss, “…just take some break and then come back and let’s see what it is because four years (for the next Olympics) is a very, very long time.” But for now, it’s love-game and match point.