Always a love-game in badminton

It’s probably the feathers and strings that make badminton a conducive sport for romantic pursuits.

When international Arvind Bhat (world No. 27) married Bengal state player Pallavi in December, theirs was the latest of several instances of badminton players marrying each other — more than in any other sport. This is not just an Indian, but an international phenomenon.

The top two men’s singles players — Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei, are in relationships with top women players Xie Xingfang and Wong Mew Choo respectively. Indeed, Lin and Xie’s relationship while they were both world champions elicited more international press coverage than their on-court exploits. Several Chinese and Korean players, both active and retired, are married or in relationships. There was of course the celebrated romance of the Danes Peter Gade Christensen and Camilla Martin, both All England champions, whose relationship unfortunately soured.

In India, among contemporary or recent players, there are at least six well-known pairs: national champions Chetan Anand and Jwala Gutta; Nikhil Kanetkar and Shruti Kurien; Pullela Gopichand and PVV Lakshmi, Jose George and Parul Rawat, Trupti Murgunde and Abhijeet Naimpally, and Rupesh Kumar and Devi Suma. This is in keeping with tradition, for ever since George Lewis married fellow-player Nubina Lewis, Indian badminton players have developed a fascination for mixed doubles. George, winner of four national men’s singles and three mixed doubles titles (with Nubina), is called the ‘Father of Indian badminton’. He no doubt set a healthy precedent by dating another player and establishing a fine combination in the late 1930s and 1940s.

The vibes picked up during the eighties. There was plenty of zing in the air at Indian camps — no less than four pairs were mooning over each other, and they tied the knot as well: Uday and Sujata Pawar; Vikram Singh and Madhumita Bisht; Partho Ganguly and Anita Madan, Syed Modi and Ameeta Kulkarni, and Ajay Kanwar and Manjusha Pawangadkar.

“It’s basically because of the camps,” says Uday Pawar. “Especially in the eighties, we had month-long camps; you get to know each other well over such long periods. In most other sports men and women don’t have camps together.”

Badminton is one of the few sports with the same circuit for men and women. Still, what’s true of badminton does not necessarily hold true for a sport like table tennis, which is subject to the same dynamics.

“When you’re at camps you’re at an age where you’re attracted to boys,” says Jwala Gutta, whose marriage to Chetan Anand has attracted the attention of the non-sports press as well. “Of course, sometimes that results in a little friction with coaches… we’re a hypocritical country, people don’t easily digest the fact that you have a boyfriend or girlfriend.”

Former Davis Cupper and Asian Games gold medalist Gaurav Natekar, who married national champion Arati Ponnappa, admits badminton is an unusual sport. “My marriage with Arati is a rare case; but then, we knew each other since we were 14. I cannot think of any tennis players who married each other,” says Natekar. Arvind Bhat goes so far as to say that he was “inspired” by his predecessors in to marrying a badminton player. “It was on my mind, even before I met Pallavi. I knew that many badminton players had married each other, so it meant that they could understand the demands of a professional player.”

Perhaps the most important factor is that most competitive badminton players come from backgrounds with a similar social profile: urban, educated, middle-class. It’s a marriage consultant’s dream sport. Not that the players would have much use of him, anyway.