Pickleball League Asia Private Limited, with the help of “anchor investor” The Times Group, has established an international ranking, an international tour and an international championship for the sport of pickleball.
Both of these business entities are Indian. According to Tofler, Pickleball League Asia was incorporated in 2023, has headquarters in Delhi and two directors: Ashish Khanna and Aditya Khanna. The Times Group is a longstanding media conglomerate and publisher of the Times of India.
That said, two bodies from the sport’s homeland, the US, were present in Dubai for the announcement. Representing the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) Tour was its current number-one women’s player, Megan Fudge DeHeart. APP, as it says, is the “first and only tour officially sanctioned by” the other American entity on hand: USA Pickleball, the sport’s American governing body.
USA Pickleball’s Chief Competition Officer, Justin Maloof, has since told us the following: “USA Pickleball and Global Pickleball Federation representatives had the opportunity [in Dubai] to meet with PWR officials to understand more about the tour details and possible involvements by both organizations. Discussions were positive, and we remain optimistic that both USAP and GPF will be an active participant. At this time, however, it’s simply too soon in the process to understand what that involvement will look like, but talks are ongoing.”
PWR, for its part, says it will “bring together regional bodies under one unified structure to enhance sports governance and future longevity.” Its Pickleball World Rankings (PWR) is a “unified global ranking” in which players “accumulate points and qualify for the PWR World Series through the PWR World Tour.” Its events – of which there are six tiers: PWR100, PWR 200, PWR 400, PWR700, PWR1000 and PWR2000 – are “similar to ATP and WTA tournaments in tennis.”
At least in its first year, the World Series will comprise six tournaments, with 64 individual players and six teams of four competing. It is scheduled to begin in March 2025, and one tournament will take place around the Persian Gulf – specifically in the region of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). According to PWR’s founder and CEO, Pranav Kohli, “the ambition and visionary leadership within the region and the positive pace of societal change is in step with the growth of the sport.” The Managing Director of The Times Group, Vineet Jain, makes a claim that our readers have heard about pádel: “Pickleball,” he says, “will overtake tennis in terms of participation in near future.”
The Tour will have $15 million in prizes, the Series another $1.5 million.
In other international news…
Meanwhile, the United Pickleball Association (UPA) is itself doing some international expansion, through the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball (MLP), according to Pickleball.com.
UPA covers the 50 US states, holds six regional tournaments and offers two mutually exclusive divisions: Champions and Open.
The PPA Tour (not to be confused with the APP!) describes itself as “a global governing body of men’s and women’s professional pickleball” but operates in the US. It has its own titles, its own rankings and 26 tournaments, with finals in San Clemente, California.
MLP is yet another American league, this one with 22 teams split between its Premier and Challenger levels. (Premier drafts the top 48 players out of Challenger.) It holds eight tournaments per season, with a mid-season and a final, and calculates cumulative standings at the end.
Thanks to new deals taking effect in November, some 150 UPA pros will compete in foreign events scheduled for Australia, India, Canada, Asia and Europe. Winning players will earn ranking points for the PPA Tour.
MLP is, in addition, planning to establish a league for co-ed teams. Details are forthcoming.
