New Delhi: Pickleball is one sport which has seen some keen interest in India in the recent years. A racquet sport, which is played with a paddle and a wiffle ball, has found its foot in a country despite the presence of some legacy sports such as hockey, football and cricket.
Many prominent Indian pickleball players are currently participating in the India Masters Pickleball Championship at he DLTA stadium in New Delhi. Mumbai-based Armaan Bhatia made it to three finals of the event and will be in contention to account for titles on Sunday.
This comes just a year after the 25-year-old started playing pickleball as a professional only in September last year. Armaan has switched his career from tennis to pickleball after not finding enough growth in the former. Such are the stories in the Indian sports ecosystem.
Pickleball is said to be a mixture of the established racquet sports such as tennis, table tennis, and badminton. The paddle used is longer than a table tennis racquet and shorter than the tennis racquet. The court (20×44 feet dimensions) of a pickleball is just one-third of a tennis court. A ball with wholes (mostly similar to plastic) and made of polymer is used here.
Unlike football and tennis, pickleball isn’t demanding for a human body, though it helps players for an ideal work out. The body doesn’t get stressed after playing hours of the sport, which makes it appealing across age-groups and genders.
Another turning point of the sport is the accessibility of the sport and how players can adapt to it quickly. A report from IndiaToday.in mentioned that one tennis court in the USA can be converted into four pickleball courts. A superior-quality pickleball court doesn’t cost more than INR 5 lakh, according to a report by Firstpost.
Basics of pickleball
Just like any other racquet sport, pickleball can also be played in singles or doubles. It is a fast-paced sport than tennis perhaps not touching the intense rallies of table tennis. Each game involves a player or team to reach 11 points first with at least a lead of two points.
Interestingly, there is no volley allowed because of the ‘kitchen’ rule, where the player is prohibited to stand near the net from hitting a ball. The return has to be made with at least a bounce from the moment the serve has been launched. The serve is an underhand serve unlike the over-the-shoulder serves seen in tennis.
Covid-19 pandemic a blessing in disguise for pickleball’s growth in India
The contagious Covid-19 pandemic did stall human life and wreaked havoc on the mental, economical and societal front. However, pickleball found its moment with many sporting enthusiasts not being able to play. Given that pickleball can be played in garrages and small areas, many youngsters were introduced to it. Even older people considered it as a recreational sport.
In 2016, as a report from Firstpost observed, there were just three courts in the country and a few players in participation. By 2024, tournaments such as Monsoon Pickleball Championship ($100,000 prize pool) and India Open in Mumbai. The courts have increased to around 1000 with the likes of Mumbai, Ahmedabad, New Delhi NCR, and Chennai being the hubs for the growth of the sport.
“It (pickleball) can re-engineer society. It’s more than just a sport. People often tell me they wish they had found pickleball earlier, as it would have made them fitter and emotionally balanced,” said Sunil Valavalkar, who founded All India Pickleball Association (AIPA), to IndiaToday.in.
Pickleball to replace tennis?
According to a report by Dainik Bhaskar, 40% women also play the pickle among 5.4 crore population playing the sport around the globe. The sport is said to endanger tennis, as cautioned by 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic during the Wimbledon this year, though he himself has tried a hand on the sport.
“Now we have the padel or pickleball, as you call it in the States, that is growing and emerging. People kind of have fun with it and say, Yeah, but tennis is tennis,” Djokovic said.
“Tennis is the king or queen of all the racquet sports, that’s true. But on a club level, tennis is endangered. If we don’t do something about it, as I said, globally or collectively, padel, pickleball in States, they’re going to convert all the tennis clubs into padel and pickleball because it’s just more economical,” he added.
Pickleball reached to 13.6 million players in the United States last year, as per the reports by the 2024 Sports & Fitness Industry Association report.
