India Fields Mixed Youth and Veteran Squad at US Open Pickleball 2026

When a national program fields sub-junior players and a 50-plus veteran in the same overseas tournament, coached by someone who will simultaneously compete in the pro singles, pickleball's global development story starts to look less like an experiment and more like a system. The Indian Pickleball Association made that case clearly this week with its US Open squad announcement.

The 10-player contingent will travel to Naples, Florida for the US Open Pickleball Championships, running April 9 to 18. Mihika Yadav and Arjun Singh lead the roster, with entries distributed across open, junior, and veteran categories.

The squad's generational range is the real headline. Purvansh Patel and Aditya Singh enter open draw competition. Naga Moksha is entered in girls U-18, while Jeet Sood and Yuvraj Singh represent India in the U-16 bracket. Panth Thakkar and Atharva Sheth are both entered as sub-juniors. At the far end of the age spectrum, Suryaveer Singh Bhullar will compete in men's 50-plus doubles and mixed doubles, the veteran presence that anchors the team's competitive range.

Coaching all of them is Dhiren Patel, who will also enter the 40-plus men's pro singles himself. The dual role of coach and competitor is unusual at international level and reflects something real about where Indian pickleball currently stands: structured enough to bring formal coaching to the US Open, competitive enough that the coach is a legitimate pro draw participant.

Access to the main draw wasn't automatic. Indian players earned direct entry through a partnership between the IPA and the US Open, bypassing the qualification rounds that typically filter out programs from emerging pickleball nations before competition even begins. For a program still building its international profile, competing without that hurdle means players at every age category are immediately measured against the sport's highest-level amateur and recreational competition.

The mixed-age model India is presenting in Naples mirrors what American recreational leagues have arrived at organically. Local courts tend to run most efficiently when U-16 players and 50-plus regulars share the same competitive ecosystem rather than existing in separate programs that rarely overlap. India is applying that structure with national intent, and Suryaveer Singh Bhullar competing alongside teenagers in the same IPA-backed delegation is a visible expression of it.

Naples is only the first stop. India's 2026 international schedule also includes the Epic Amateur World Championship in Singapore and the Pickleball World Cup in Vietnam, a three-event international season that would have looked like an overreach for any emerging pickleball nation just a few years ago.

The US Open opens in Naples on April 9 and runs through April 18.