TV
New sports discipline - ‘pickleball’ has gained roots in cities like Mumbai where space is at a premium. As per sources, the new sport’s popularity has quickly overshot that of other sports like squash, table tennis and badminton across the globe.
Though the sport is yet to have a breakout athlete who can make it more popular across the globe, it has already become so much attractive.
Pickleball is a much easier sport to learn than tennis. It requires very little space. And it’s age and gender agnostic. One can have multiple generations of the same family playing the sport.
The sport has been around in India for almost eight or ten years now. However during Covid-19, everyone was looking for physical activity that they could do within confined spaces and pickleball became a great option. Not only are tennis courts being converted for pickleball, a lot of former tennis players are also taking it up,” said former India tennis player Gaurav Natekar, the founder of the World Pickleball League. It is one of the two leagues coming up over the next few months.
According to sports experts, there are other factors too behind the increase in the sport’s popularity. It’s perfect for beginners and the athleticism levels required are much lower compared to tennis or badminton. The costs can also be pretty low with a paddle costing as low as Rs 1,500.
Earlier in July this year, legendry tennis star Novak Djokovic had warned that tennis was being challenged by the popularity of new sports like pickleball.
“On a club level, tennis is endangered. If we don’t do something about it, globally or collectively, paddle, pickleball in the States, they’re gonna convert all the tennis clubs into paddle and pickleball,” said Djokovic.
As per reports, Djokovic’s warning has already come true in many parts of the globe with pickleball gaining fans rapidly.
