Now Reading: Three pickleball tournaments across India this weekend
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Three pickleball tournaments across India this weekend
Noida, Chennai, and Odisha will host pickleball tournaments this weekend as India’s domestic circuit expands. The Noida Smash Grand Prix, a PWR 700 event on August 16, is part of a 13-city…
The Story in Brief
Noida, Chennai, and Odisha will host pickleball tournaments this weekend as India’s domestic circuit expands. The Noida Smash Grand Prix, a PWR 700 event on August 16, is part of a 13-city Pickleball Now Grand Prix and linked to the IPBL Talent Pathway. Only winners of Open Singles categories become eligible for the IPBL Auction or Draft pool, but a maximum of six players across all six designated cities will be shortlisted, with gender split decided by the IPBL Organising Committee. Chennai’s Gorilla Smash Trophy Tour, a PWR 200 event on August 15-16, offers a Rs 3 lakh prize pool across 11 categories at SERV Pickleball. The Odisha Open, an IPA-sanctioned PWR 200 event on the same dates, has 75 players across 13 categories, with Men’s Singles drawing the most entries at 15.
The Indian Opinion
Pickleball’s rapid spread through Indian cities is impressive, but the gap between grassroots participation and a genuine professional pathway remains wide. The IPBL Talent Pathway shortlists just six players from six cities, with no appeal process, a quota that feels more like a lottery than a meritocracy. The Odisha Open and Gorilla Smash Trophy draw strong local entries, yet none offer a direct route to the top. The real test will be whether IPBL’s first auction next year actually picks from these pools or simply ignores them.
Sources (3): timesnownews.com, timesnownews.com (2), timesnownews.com (3)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources.
