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There have been many high profile Indian sportspersons who have tied the knot within the sports sphere. A reason for there being so many marriages between sportspersons may be that they understand the sacrifices the other has to go through. Both know that their service to the nation is of prime importance.
A few of these Indian couples are: Manjeet Kaur (athletics) and Gurwinder Singh Chandi (field hockey); Rajpal Singh (Hockey) and Avneet Kaur (Shooting); Milkha Singh (Athletics) and Nirmal Kaur (Volleyball); Sania Mirza (Tennis) and Shoaib Malik (Cricket); Dinesh Karthik (Cricket) and Dipika Pallikal (Squash).
While these are phenomenal love stories in their own right, a thing to note is that all these are couples who married someone from a different sport. In this article, however, we list down 3 Indian sportspersons who married players in the same sport.
#3 Geeta Phogat and Pawan Kumar (Wrestling)
Indian wrestling sensation Geeta Phogat tied the knot with Pawan Kumar on 20 November 2016. The Bhiwani-born Geeta has had a phenomenal career in the sport with a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, a gold medal at the 2009 Commonwealth Championship in Jalandhar, and another gold at the 2011 Commonwealth Championship in Melbourne.
She became the first Indian wrestler to win a gold medal in Freestyle wrestling at the CWG. On the other hand, the best achievement of the Delhi-based wrestler Pawan Kumar is winning the Bronze medal at the 2014 Glasgow CWG. He also won a couple of gold medals for the nation, at the 2011 and 2013 Commonwealth Championships, respectively.
The wedding ceremony of the two grapplers took place at Charkhi Dadri in Haryana with Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Sakshi Malik, and Sushil Kumar amongst the most prominent personalities to attend it.
Sakshi Malik and Satyawart Kadian are another couple who are both wrestlers. Soon Vinesh Phogat will also join this list after she announced that she will marry wrestler Somveer Rathi soon.
#2 Anju Bobby George and Robert Bobby George (Athletics)
Anju Bobby George became to be known as the Long jump queen of the country due to her exceptional abilities in the sport. Everyone knew her during the early 2000s, as they were the prime years of her career. She would go on to create history by becoming the first Indian to win a World Athletics Championships medal when she won the Bronze in Paris.
An Arjuna Award winner in 2002, Anju also won multiple gold medals - one at the 2005 World Athletics Final in Monte Carlo, one at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, one at 2005 Asian Championships in Incheon, and one at the 2006 South Asian Games in Colombo. Her achievement at the World Athletics also won her India's highest sporting honour, the Khel Ratna in 2003–2004.
The Kerala-born athlete tied the knot with Robert Bobby George. He was Anju's coach in the triple jump and a national champion in the sport himself. Presently, Anju operates as the Chairperson of TOPS or the Target Olympic Podium Scheme.
#1 Heena Sidhu and Ronak Pandit (Shooting)
One of India's most famous sporting couple, Heena Sidhu and Ronak Pandit said the wedding vows on February 7, 2013. 29-year-old Heena is a widely decorated athlete. She won a gold medal in 2013 World Cup in Germany in the 10 m air pistol event. This brought her to the limelight as she was the first Indian pistol shooter to do the same.
There was no looking back for the Ludhiana-born shooter thereafter and she went on winning one accolade after the other each year. She has two Commonwealth Games golds to her name (in 10 m air pistol at the 2010 CWG and 25 m pistol at the 2018 CWG). Apart from this, she has two Asiad bronze medals and an Asiad silver medal.
The Arjuna Award winner found Ronak Pandit as her coach and mentor. And later, her husband. Ronak, too, brought glory for India when he won the gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Men's 25m Standard Pistol (Pairs) along with Samaresh Jung. There is a big hand of Ronak in Heena's success and he is known to analyze her every shot. Theirs is a story where we can safely conclude, behind every successful woman, there is a great man.
Pullela Gopichand and PVV Lakshmi are another power couple who married in the same sport -- badminton.
