Pranav Kohli, CEO and co-founder of Pickleball World Rankings (PWR) and Aditya Khanna, co-founder of PWR declared bold ambitions of Pickleball being part of the Olympic roaster when the quadrennial event is potentially hosted by India in 2036 at the ET Now Global Business Summit (GBS) 2025.

After the resounding success of the PWR DUPR India Masters in New Delhi last year and the recently concluded 4th Indian Pickleball Association (IPA) Nations hosted at the Bennett University, Khanna expressed hope that the upcoming PWR DUPR India League, set to take place in Mumbai next month will lay the structure for the growth of Pickleball on a grassroots level which ultimately will fuel the Olympics ambition.

"What IPL did for Indian cricket is truly wonderful. That is what this league is set to do for Pickleball. Indian players will play in the league and the grassroots league will start. As leagues like this come, prize money and sponsorship opportunities will increase. These Indian players become heroes for junior kids and that's where the junior grassroots development starts.

"Governance structure is very important for leagues like this. The Indian Pickleball Association (IPA) is working strongly with the Global Pickleball Federation (GPF). GPF is aligned with the US Pickleball Association (USPA), which is the rule-making body. GPS has continental federations with Europe, Asia, South America, and America. They are following the international Olympic structure of getting international Olympic recognition," said Aditya Khanna, co-founder of PWR at the ET Now Global Business Summit

"In India, we play a strong part as India is a Pickleball giant. After the USA, India is number two. In India, we are getting the governance structure right. We have aligned ourselves with GPF and the Asian Pickleball Association (APA). GPS currently has 60-65 members already aligned with them. We are helping them form the Asian bodies. From an Asia perspective, we are choosing the right partners who can develop Pickleball rightly in the Asian countries.

"We are working strongly with the APA and GPF to take the sport to the Olympics. That is the dream of us as a group to have Pickleball in the Olympics when it happens in India in 2036," Khanna added.

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Kohli stated that India has to play the lead in ensuring the sport gets to the Olympics due to the sport seeing exceptional growth in the country and India bidding to host the event in 2036.

"It is a single-point agenda. 2036 Olympics in India for Pickleball to be an Olympic sport and India to have its first gold medal in Pickleball. For that governance needs to be right. India is going to lead the charge in that. With the participation and the Hockey Stick growth, we are going to see, it is going to be critical we take the onus on ourselves. With the Olympics going to happen in all probability in India, I think it becomes even more imperative that India takes the lead to get International Olympics Committee (IOC) recognition and getting the Olympics in India," added Pranav Kohli, CEO and co-founder of PWR.

For those unversed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared India's intention to host the Olympics in 2036 during the 141st IOC session in Mumbai in October 2023. Last year, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) made their bid official by sending a 'letter of intent' to the IOC's Future Host Commission.

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