CHENNAI: As you scan the Tamil Nadu pickleball team for the upcoming national tournament that is set to happen in Ahmedabad, it is striking. The team has 25 players of various age-groups ranging from school kids to retired bank employees. If you ask K Mohit Kumar, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Pickleball Association, he says that is one of the key reasons why pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the world.
It’s a bit like badminton, but also like table-tennis. At the same time, it is not as tiring as tennis. And the rules are simple. And players from other sports such as tennis and badminton are also taking to it. In fact, it is exactly why what started as a community sport in the USA is now officially played in 80 countries, including India, and there are talks going on as to whether it could make it to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
In India, as many as 15 states are expected to take part in the upcoming nationals conducted by the All India Pickleball Association. The tournament may feature 350-400 players, top players from each state, going against each other from December 1-3. In Tamil Nadu, there are over 200 players registered with TNPA, but Mohit expects the number to double in a couple of months. “In Chennai, we have ten venues where they can play pickleball and other districts, Salem. Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, and Erode. In Chennai, we have tie-ups with DAV schools, we play in corporation parks also. We have dedicated members who make sure it all happens smoothly,” Mohit told this daily on Tuesday.
Among the players TNPA has is Vimalraj Jayachandran, a professional tennis player who had an ITF singles ranking of 2554 (August 2019). He got to know about the sport about six months ago, but fell in love with it immediately. “In the span of six months, I won in the South India Premier League, I won a bronze medal in a state tournament and it has been upwards since then. If tennis is my first love, pickleball is second,” says Vimalraj.
Even as the sport is growing rapidly, TNPA has now joined hands with Express Avenue, where multiple pickleball courts — Ice Water sporting arena — are expected to be launched next month. EA has also come on board as the sponsor for the state association, taking care of the players’ needs and promoting the sport, said Kavita Singhania, Managing Director of EIPL, at an event on Tuesday. “We want EA to be one spot for all kinds of entertainment. We want people to be more aware of pickleball, to leave their ipads and iphones and start going out and playing, which we used to do as youngsters. We are going to promote the TN players for all their events,” she told this daily.
Mohit said that the association with EA will help TNPA take the sport forward. “It is going to help players and also help the association to grow it to the grassroot level where we can reach out to players and confidently tell them that yes, we have backup to take you to the next level.”
Exploring the sport What is pickleball? Often explained as a hybrid of tennis, badminton and table-tennis, Pickleball is played on a badminton-sized court with a lowered net. No bar on age. When did it start? It all began in 1965 when former Washington State Rep. Joel Pritchard and businessman Bill Bell realised they did not have enough equipment for their families to play badminton on the former's court. The duo improvised with table-tennis paddles, wiffleball and a modified court. Soon, people got hooked up and now, it is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. How is it played? Like Badminton, whether it is singles or doubles, the ball is served diagonally before being returned after pitching. Once the ball has pitched on either side, the players can take it as volleys. The points vary from 11 to 15 to 21, with only serving teams getting points before being faulted. Why has it become popular? For starters, anyone can pick up this sport at any age. It is not as physically tiring as tennis or other court-based sports. And as was the case when it began, it has a community feel to it where everyone in a family could play together. But more than anything else, the element of having fun that has brought people in. Where is it headed? With the fast-growing nature of the possibility, there has been discussions on making it an Olympic sport down the line. At the moment, it seems like the sport is in the talks for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics with as many as 80 countries being a part of the International Pickleball Association.
