Their 14-year marriage is reportedly over, following the former India skipper's close relationship with badminton champ half his age, reported mid-day.com

Mohammad Azharuddin and Sangeeta Bijlani's 14-year-old marriage is reportedly over. If the buzz in Hyderabad (which has now reached Mumbai as well and is fast spreading to the rest of the country) is to be believed, then all is not well between the mian-biwi. According to a highly-placed source, Azhar will be filing for divorce within a week. And a badminton champ half his age is believed to be the reason for the split.

Jwala Gutta (26), World No 7 mixed doubles player, currently married to Arjuna Award-winner badminton champ Chetan Anand, is the one who has caught the fancy of the 47-year-old former India skipper and Congress MP from Moradabad.

He is said to be so besotted with her that he has gifted her a BMW, in which she rides all around Hyderabad -- something that first raised eyebrows, as mixed doubles badminton players are not a well-paid lot.

"Whenever he is in Hyderabad, he is seen in Pullela Gopichand's academy where Jwala practises and they both leave together. They head to some hotel but I am not sure if they stay together in the same room," said a highly-placed source from the Andhra Pradesh Badminton Association.

"Jwala and her husband are not staying together at the moment and are even practising separately," he added. Azhar was spotted at the Asian Badminton Championship in Delhi recently and the couple has even been watching matches together.

Gopichand refused to get embroiled in the controversy. "I don't want to comment anything on this," he said, cautiously. Badminton officials say Jwala was the reason why Azhar was interested in fighting the Badminton Association of India (BAI) elections, and not to "bring professionalism, accountability and transparency in BAI's working" as he had said. Azhar, however, withdrew his nomination later. With inputs from Amit Singh.

After an eight-year marriage, Azhar divorced his first wife Naureen after he started seeing Sangeeta. His messy divorce cost him two bungalows in Hyderabad's Banjara Hills, two BMWs apart from lakhs of rupees. He has two sons from his first wife -- Asaduddin and Abbasuddin. Five years after the divorce, Naureen married a Canada-based real-estate businessman.