Pickleball growing in popularity, draws more sponsors

Mumbai: A recently concluded Pickleball tournament in Mumbai saw the highest number of participants at 470 and a record number of over 15 sponsors, including Skechers, Decathlon, Selkirk, Franklin, and Pickleball United.

Pickleball, often described as a combination of tennis, ping-pong and badminton, has grown nearly 40% in the last three years - making it America's fastest-growing sport.

A relatively new and emerging sport in India, it is gaining popularity across age brackets and among CEOs. It is also seeing converts from other racket sports, according to experts. This Tier 3 Ultimate Pickleball Championship, with players from the US,Singapore,Tanzania, Nepal, and Dubai ranked on the lines of ATP Tennis rankings. The tournament is expected to pave the way for maximising the sport's popularity in India, said Himani Hazare, director, Pro World Talent Sport, the organising company for the competition.


"This is a big-scale tournament," said Navin Ajwani, MD, Ajwani Infrastructure, and a doubles player who started playing the sport during Covid.

Earlier this year, two pickleball championships - the Indian Open in Goa had a participation of 240 players and the Global Sports Championship had 370 players. "Each big budget tournament is seeing more participation," said Arvind Prabhoo, chairman of the All India Pickleball Association (AIPA), the sanctioning body of the tournament .

Currently, in India, the most popular demographic of pickleball players is between 18 years and 34 years, followed by 35-54 and 55-64 years.