Pickleball: Indian players shine at German Open

Indian players shone at the recently concluded German Open Pickleball championship where they bagged four medals.

Four other Indians also partnered with players from other countries and won medals at the tournament, a release from the All India Pickleball Association, the governing body of the sport, said here on Tuesday.

Niraj Sharma and Manish Rao clinched a bronze in the men's doubles (4.5 level), while Ashwani Wadhwa partnered with Mark Cahill of the USA to bag a gold medal in the men's doubles (3.5 level), it said.

In the same 3.5 level event, Sunil Joshi and Suresh Bhansali clinched the bronze.

The other medal winners include Abhiruchi Bogra (India) and Laurie Kaczmarek (USA) in women's doubles: (3.5 level -- bronze), Niraj Sharma and Megha Kapoor (Gold -- mixed Doubles 3.5 Level) and Sunil Joshi and Supriya Deshpande (Bronze mixed doubles 3.5 level), it said.

In the above 50 category, Ramesh Masurkar (India) and Jimmy Tan (Singapore) won the gold in Men's Doubles (3.0 Level), while Ashwani Wadhwa and Coleen Fritsch (USA) won Mixed Doubles (3.5 Level Gold, it said.

Among the medal winners, the players from Mumbai were feliciated by Maharashtra Sports Minister Ashish Shelar, who assured to them that efforts will be made to further develop and promote this game in the western state.

Pickleball, which traces its origin to 1960s in the US, is a paddle sport that combines elements of popular discplines like badminton, tennis and table tennis.