Though their parents had been friends for years, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu and Venkata Datta Sai barely interacted until Oct. 6, 2022, when they happened to be seated next to each other on a flight from Hyderabad, India, where they both live, to Delhi, India.
“It was a two-hour flight and we were talking and talking and finally ended up exchanging numbers,” Ms. Sindhu said.
Ms. Sindhu, who also goes by PV, immediately liked that Mr. Datta was knowledgeable about various sports, like Formula 1 car racing, soccer and golf. Ms. Sindhu, 29, is a professional badminton player with two Olympic and five World Badminton Championship medals. According to Forbes, Ms. Sindhu, who has four million followers on Instagram, is one of the world’s highest-paid female athletes. She was born and raised in Hyderabad, where she received a bachelor’s degree in economics, commerce and civics, and an M.B.A. from St. Ann’s College For Women.
Mr. Datta, 30, is the executive director of Posidex Technologies, a data analytics company, and the managing director of Sour Apple Asset Management, an investment firm; both are based in Hyderabad. He was born in Hyderabad and grew up in several cities, including Mysore, India, Delhi and Singapore. He has a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from FLAME University in Pune, India.
After the flight with Ms. Sindhu, Mr. Datta continued to Europe for a biking trip through the Balkans with friends. During his vacation, he and Ms. Sindhu talked constantly.
“It was almost like God had sent a message,” Mr. Datta said. “I’ve met hundreds of people on flights. I’m not getting married to them.”
