World Badminton Championships bronze medallist and India’s No. 1 player B. Sai Praneeth was engaged to Swetha Jayanthi, a software engineer, on November 22. But despite the momentous occasion, the badminton player was back at practice, sweating it out the next day.
The ceremony, was attended by a host of badminton stars, including Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap. And just as we wonder how the celebrations were over so quickly, Praneeth says, “It’s an engagement, right, not marriage.” He then adds, “This relationship is an exciting phase of my life, something that’s unpredictable in that I don’t know how it’s going to be. But yeah, it’s just one day after the engagement, and I am enjoying these moments.” His fiancée Swetha hails from Kakinada and the alliance was an arranged one.
“Yeah, I met her, not like in the movies,” he says laughing, “But we had a chat and found we were on the same page.”
Ask him how he is preparing for the second innings, he replies, “Nothing specific, but I’m just taking things as they come; there’s still quite some time,” adds the shuttler with a blush. But for the moment, he clearly seems more focused on the Syed Modi Internatinoal Badmonton Championships, which is the 26th and the last tournament of the BWF World Tour before the 2019 BWF World Tour Finals, happening between the November 26 and December 1.
But 2019 has been a memorable year for Praneeth. Apart from winning Bronze at the BWF World Badminton Championships held in Basel, he also won the Arjuna Award and climbed up his career best world ranking to No 10. Then there’s the personal celebration about starting a new chapter in his life.
“It’s been a great year for me, and things have been falling in place. I am happy and looking forward to building on these strides,” he says, adding, “I have been training hard whenever I have got the opportunity and trying to balance both the game and staying injury free, which has always been always challenging.”
