Indore to add new pickleball court as Madhya Pradesh Open unfolds

Local officials said on May 16 that Indore would add the court while the Madhya Pradesh Open was still under way at Soft Serve Courts. That matters because the event is not some isolated club gathering. It is an Indian Pickleball Association-sanctioned PWR 400 tournament, with play running from May 15 through May 17, and it places Indore in the middle of the sport’s national ranking and development pathway.

Rajesh Udawat, a member of the Mayor-in-Council who heads the Planning and Information Technology Department of the Indore Municipal Corporation, backed the new facility as a response to pickleball’s growing popularity and the city’s appetite for more places to play. That is the real bottleneck in this sport: not interest, but access. A court build adds more than painted lines and a net. It creates room for coaching blocks, local leagues, junior sessions and the next wave of sanctioned events.

The timing is what makes this more than a routine municipal announcement. Indore has already hosted three pickleball events in 2026, including the Surya Pickleball PWR 200 and the Surya Pickleball Academy PWR 100 in March. At the Surya Pickleball Tournament, which began on March 27 at the Surya Pickleball Academy, around 90 players competed across 18 categories. That kind of turnout does not happen in a vacuum. It points to a city that is moving from curiosity to habit.

The broader push has an institutional backbone. The Indian Pickleball Association says it is recognized by India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and oversees rankings, tournaments and player development across the country. In Indore, that structure is starting to look real. MPPA president Kulbhushan Singh Kukki has said plans are underway for a pickleball stadium with international-standard courts, while MPPA board member Suryansh Yadav has pushed for more tournaments, grassroots initiatives and coach training camps.