A good racket: How India is courting Pickleball, 'game of the people'

From gated societies to corporate campuses, the sport is sweeping the country

Rihanna Anand, a homemaker who lives in New Delhi, calls Pickleball her “3F formula for fitness, friends, and fun.” The quirky lovechild of tennis, badminton and table tennis is the fastest-growing sport in India.

 

At gated societies and corporate campuses to schools and weekend turf courts, the game is sweeping the country. “I’m no athlete but I can smash it on court. Every morning at 8 sharp, you'll find me and my Vasant Vihar gang swinging paddles and laughing our way through doubles,” says Anand, 35, referring to a tony neighbourhood in South Delhi.

 

Pickleball was invented in 1965 on