India's Pickleball Association Eyes 150% Growth With Bold Development Plan

The Indian Pickleball Association has set a target that would make most sports administrators pause: half a million players within three years, Olympic recognition on the horizon, and a seat inside India's Khelo India national program. IPA President Suryaveer Singh Bhullar outlined these ambitions in an exclusive interview with Pickleball Now published March 11, and the plan is built on a foundation of personal hustle as much as institutional strategy.

Bhullar's grassroots push has been literal. "I've personally visited almost 20 states last year to promote pickleball," he said. "I have travelled from Dimapur in Nagaland all the way to Kolkata, and visited places like Jammu and Kashmir and Coimbatore over the past year." That arc, from a small city in India's far northeast to the country's cultural and commercial centers, reflects a deliberate effort to build the sport beyond its urban strongholds.

The IPA has also moved into schools, partnering with a sports group to run an inter-school tournament. Bhullar was direct about why that matters: "School involvement is essential for any sport to grow. This will help grassroots development even more." The specific sports group was not named, but the model points toward what the IPA wants to become: a feeder system, not just a governing body.

On the international side, the IPA has been moving players into competitive environments at a serious pace. Teams were sent to the Pickleball World Cup in Peru in 2024, to Florida, and to Asian championships. The next stop is the US Open in Florida this April. "International exposure is vital for global competition," Bhullar said. "International experience remains a top priority for our players." The association has also been working to arrange coaching exchanges with other countries, though specific partner nations were not identified.

The IPA's reported 150% growth figure, which Bhullar referenced in the interview, lacked full context in the available source, with the exact metric the growth applies to, whether that is participation numbers, registered members, or another measure, remaining incomplete. That number will need independent verification before it can be taken at face value, but even a rough trajectory in that direction would represent one of the steeper growth curves in Indian sport over a comparable period.

Commercial interest is also building. "International brands want to support IPA and grassroots growth," Bhullar said. "We are in ongoing discussions with them." No brands were named and no terms disclosed, but the framing suggests the IPA sees sponsorship as a lever for expanding its grassroots infrastructure rather than just funding elite competition.

The three-year timeline to 500,000 players is the number that will be hardest to hit. It requires not just continued outreach but structural integration into school curricula and national programs. Khelo India inclusion would accelerate that significantly by unlocking government funding and institutional reach. Olympic recognition would change the sport's profile in India entirely. Both are long-term bets, but Bhullar's track record of logging miles across 20 states suggests the IPA is not treating them as wishful thinking.