Home EVENTS Gujarat Open Pickleball: Competitive brilliance and sporting essence

Gujarat Open Pickleball: Competitive brilliance and sporting essence

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In a first, Ahmedabad became host to the first-ever Pickleball tournament in the state of Gujarat. Held across two days, the Gujarat Open displayed a galore of sporting talent at the Pavan Pickleball Academy.

Balraj Shukla

Dr Balraj Shukla is a freelance sports writer who experienced Pickleball at Gujarat Open Tournament. Sportsavour is fortunate to have a first-hand write up on Gujarat Open.

Pavan Patel, a US-returned coach laid the foundation of Pickleball in Gujarat. Desperate to make families indulge in this sport and simultaneously improve their physical strength, Pavan channeled all his power in making Gujarat Open tournament a grand success.

Pavan Patel

Named after him, the Pavan University and its members played a key role in making this tournament a historical one. One of the key members of Pavan University is Narendra Kankaria, owner of S.N. International company. It was within a span of 8 days that Pavan’s team, including Narendra was able to fabricate four extremely scenic pickleball courts.

Brushed in blues and greens, the courts hosted players of various age groups from various cities like Mumbai, Jaipur, Bilwada, etc. The tournament saw singles and doubles matches in the age group categories that were as follows: U-18, U-30 & 30+. The organizers provided the paddles for this particular event.

Held on 29th February & 1st March 2020, the Gujarat Open was graced by the presence of the President of the All India Pickleball Association, Sunil Valavalkar.

Pavan Patel with Sunil Valavalkar

“Under Mr Pavan, Gujarat Pickleball is in safe hands,” he said. He further added, “A well organized tournament held on state of the art courts at Ahmedabad. Going forward with the hope that Pavanji will share his expertise to Pan India by respecting the legacy of AIPA to grow Pickleball in every nook and corner of India.”

The smooth sailing of the entire event, the healthy organic food made specially for the athletes, along with the combination of a fun and thrilling atmosphere made Gujarat Open one of its kind. Events like Gujarat Open play a propulsive role in elevating the status of Pickleball in that region.

Checking off Gujarat, through the medium of AIPA, Pickleball has now spread its reach to nearly 50% of the country. Moreover, visionaries like Pavan Patel are the need of the hour for making Pickleball a household name in India. An easy to learn sport and yet a physically demanding one, Pickleball can be a stern test of athleticism which was evident at the Gujarat Open.

 

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PoulomiKundu started her career in 2000 as a freelance journalist in Hindustan Times. Soon after she was selected an intern in Zee News, Kolkata. After her post- graduation in English, Poulomi joined the leading television production house of eastern India, Rainbow Productions. She was a journalist in Khas Khobor, a Bengali news magazine programme in Doordarshan and also headed the post production department of another programme, Khas Kolkata. In 2004, Poulomi moved to Delhi as a creative writer in an advertising agency, Brand Stewards Pvt. Ltd. In 2005, she again shifted her base for a better opportunity and that in Mumbai. There she got the job in Raa Media Pvt Ltd. as an associate director of two programmes for Doordarshan-Yuva and Paisa Vasool. In the meantime, she also wrote features in DNA as a freelancer. Poulomi directs promotional videos, develops scripts for films for Corporate and NGOs. But an ardent sports lover, Poulomi always had an urge to contribute somewhere in the field of sports. Her love for sports started from an early age when she played gully cricket and football for local teams. Academics and professional hazards sometimes took her away from her passion, but it never died in her. She always nurtured the never-ending dream. So she materialized her dream in the form of ‘SPORTSAVOUR’. It is an online sports portal that serves sports with the tagline ‘For the indigenous, unconventional, unknown’.

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