The recent conclusion of the Pickleball Indian Open 2024 has seen a tremendous response from the players and the spectators. The league has seen a never before enthusiasm as the emerging sport in India is extensively supported by former Tennis and Badminton stars, Bollywood celebrities, and mega corporates.

The game is already a mega-hit in the USA and slowly spreading its tentacles in India. A separate league for this racquet game was announced very recently. As Indians are very fond of wrist and racquet games, there won’t be any doubts regarding the success of this game in the country.

Pickleball Indian Open 2024

The Indian contingent is doing well in this ascending game. Armaan Bhatia won the Men’s Singles defeating the Asian Champion Aditya Ruhela in the finals. In the Men’s doubles event, Rob Nunnery and Andrei Daescu clinched the gold as the Indian duo of Harsh Mehta and Armman Bhatia settled with Silver.

In Women’s Singles, Emilia Schmidt took away the gold medal with a dominating performance in the finals.

Many Bollywood celebrities marked their presence at the Pickleball’s marquee event held in Mumbai. Karan Johar and Sanya Malhotra were seen enjoying the Men’s Singles match. Jahnavi Kapoor and Manish Paul were also present to extend their support, along with the Australian Open Men’s Doubles Champion Rohan Bopanna and the former World No.1 Sania Mirza were also present and tried their hands on this hybrid game.

What is Pickleball and how India is pioneering its growth?

Pickleball is a mashup of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. It’s significantly slower than ping-pong, not as physically demanding as tennis, and requires less agility than a badminton player. But you can easily bring in some of the skillsets from either of three sports on a pickleball court that is roughly one-fourth of the tennis court.

The game is played with a racquet, similar to that of ping-pong, and a lightweight hollow whiff ball.

People from the age of 8 to 80 are playing the game—either for recreation, some sort of exercise, or professionally—that was originally invented in 1965 in the US. In India, many discovered pickleball mostly during the Covid-19 pandemic as a non-contactable sport with health benefits, but the first efforts to introduce the game in the country began in the late 2000s.

Sunil Valavalkar, the current President of the International Pickleball Federation and the founder of the All India Pickleball Association, brought this game to the country. His relentless efforts for almost two decades have got the game to this stage as it is now in the country.

It’s the fastest-growing sport in the United States of America, boasting over nine million practitioners nationwide, and is slowly but steadily spreading its tentacles to different corners of the world, including India. As per the Association of Pickleball Professionals, close to 37 million people played pickleball between August 2021 and 2022.

“In India, there are more than 8000 players spread across 17 states who play this sport regularly. In the next few years, we plan to raise that figure to a minimum of half a million,” says Sunil Valavalkar.

Inaugural Pickleball League

Recently, AIPA announced India’s Inaugural Pickleball League in partnership with Natekar Sports and Gaming. Natekar Sports and Gaming was founded and promoted by Gaurav Natekar, the former India no 1 Tennis player, double Asian Games gold medallist, and Arjuna Awardee.

AIPA is dedicated to nurturing grassroots development and providing a platform for emerging talents. The collaboration with NSG marks a significant step towards amplifying the sport’s reach across the nation. This pioneering league is not only a testament to the commitment of AIPA and NSG to the sport in India but also positions Indian Pickleball on the international stage, catering to a global audience of players, fans, and sponsors.

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