The PWR DUPR India Masters surpassed all expectations and turned out to be one of the biggest pickleball extravaganza in India, which took place from October 24-27 at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) Stadium in New Delhi. This was India's very first taste of international top-level competition, which saw both home-grown talents and some of the renowned picklers from all around the world enthralling the fans at this prestigious PWR700 event.
Even though pickleball in India has seen a wave but it's still a developing sport and when we talk about any sport in general, the franchise sports league, specially in this country has elevated even the less-popular sport to greater heights and has even reached to a larger audience. It all started with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in cricket and the same formula is still being followed in football, hockey, kabaddi and even in Kho-Kho and arm-wrestling.
Pickleball Now caught up with the President of Indian Pickleball Association (IPA), Suryaveer Singh Bhullar in an exclusive interaction and on the possibility of a franchise league, he has dropped a huge hint for pickleball enthusiasts in India.
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''So PWR DUPR India league is happening, in fact. It's already, you know, scheduled to happen in January. With the involvement of The Times Group and Vineet Jain, we see a lot of celebrities coming on board and it's gonna be really, really big. And, yeah, India will see in January how big the league is gonna get.'', he said.
The PWR DUPR India Masters is part of the PWR DUPR Indian Tour of the present PWR Calendar. The next event of the tour will take place on January, 2025 in Mumbai. It will be called the PWR DUPR India League and tennis legend, Andre Agassi will visit the event, which is scheduled to start from January 6th. The USA star will officially flag off both the event as well as the PWR DUPR Indian Tour.
Unlike the India Masters, the Indian League will see a huge surge in prize money as a total of $5,40,000 has been allocated for the pool.
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Speaking of the PWR DUPR India Masters, Suryaveer himself participated in the tournament in four categories and according to him it was the biggest pickleball event he has seen so far in India.
''I played 4 categories myself, and I think it was a grand event. We had I think more than 800 players participating and more than 150 international players. The venue was iconic, the DLDA stadium. I think it's been a grand tournament. It is by far the biggest I've see so far'', the 55-year old added.