Barkakoti wins 60-plus title as Guwahati Open spotlights senior pickleball

Mridulal Barkakoti’s 60-plus men’s singles title was the clearest sign that Guwahati’s pickleball scene is building from the ground up, not just chasing the youngest stars. Barkakoti beat Tiken Chandra Basumatary 15-5 at the Guwahati Open PWR 200, while Venkatachalam Gopalan added the 50-plus crown to underline how strongly senior divisions are taking root in Assam.

That matters because veteran brackets are often the truest measure of whether a sport is becoming durable. Barkakoti did not just outlast Basumatary on the scoreboard; he controlled the pace, stayed composed and used anticipation and sharp placement to keep points on his terms. In senior pickleball, that kind of discipline is often more valuable than raw speed, and the final margin showed how efficiently experienced players can still dictate matches.

The men’s veteran results sat alongside a broader age spread that gave the event real depth. Nazneen Rahman won the women’s 40-plus singles title, defeating Babita Mohan Langthasa 11-5, while Aditya Bikram Kaman took the U-18 boys’ singles final 11-1 over Abhiraj Kumar Dutta. Nayeem Hussain completed a rare junior sweep, winning both the U-18 and U-16 girls’ titles. Together, those results made the Guwahati Open look less like a one-off tournament and more like a functioning ladder.

That ladder has been building for some time in Assam. The Assam Pickleball Open 2025 was held June 21-22, 2025 at Eden Greens Nursery in Nalapara, Sarusajai, drew more than 50 athletes from across the Northeast and offered Pickleball World Ranking points. Nazneen Rahman, then and now a key figure in the state’s growth, said that tournament marked a major step forward in popularizing pickleball in Assam and the Northeast. In January 2025, she was already running clinics in schools and clubs, while 16 Assam players went on to take part in the 4th IPA National Pickleball Tournament in Greater Noida.

The bigger picture has shifted quickly. In January 2026, the Indian Pickleball Association was granted National Sports Federation status by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, giving the sport a firmer institutional base. Earlier, IPA president Suryaveer Singh Bhullar set out a wider ambition: build a world-class structure and bring the Pickleball Asia Cup to India.

Against that backdrop, Barkakoti and Gopalan are not side stories. They are proof that pickleball in Assam is attracting players across age groups, keeping older competitors in the game and giving regional clubs a reason to keep organizing. The stars of the future matter, but the veterans are the clearest sign that the sport is becoming part of everyday sporting life in the Northeast.