Manaswinee Hazarika's title surge shows pickleball's rise in India

Manaswinee Hazarika is turning a late start into a fast track. The Assam player, who only picked up pickleball late last year after a tennis background, has already become one of India’s most dangerous names in women’s and mixed doubles, and her title surge is starting to look like a case study in how the sport can grow beyond curiosity.

Hazarika’s breakout stretch came with a hat-trick at the Madhya Pradesh Open in Indore on May 17, when she won women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles at an Indian Pickleball Association-sanctioned event. She followed that with an even bigger haul at the Guwahati Open PWR 200, where she collected four titles as the event concluded in early June. Seven titles across two tournaments is not a hobbyist’s resume. It is the kind of output that gives a young sport a face it can sell.

The Guwahati event showed why Assam matters in this growth story. The Assam Pickleball Association’s tournament drew 130 players across 22 events and carried Rs 80,000 in prize money, a sign that the local circuit is widening fast enough to support serious competition. Hazarika’s dominance there mattered not just because she won again, but because she did it in a field large enough to test depth, not just talent. That is how bankable contenders get built.

Her rise also lands at a moment when pickleball in India has finally moved into a more credible phase. The Indian Pickleball Association was officially recognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in 2025 as the national sports federation for pickleball, and that recognition was upheld by the Delhi High Court in February 2026. Governance matters in a sport still fighting for infrastructure, rankings and legitimacy. Without it, player development stays informal. With it, athletes like Hazarika can chase a real ladder instead of a loose collection of local events.

The regional picture is moving just as quickly. PPA Tour Asia says its research found 1.9 billion people across 12 Asian territories have heard of pickleball, 812 million have tried it at least once, and 282 million play monthly, with the sport posting 60 percent year-over-year growth across those markets. At the Asia Pickleball Summit 2.0 in Kuala Lumpur on June 6-7, experts and officials said the next step is getting more youngsters into the game.

That is why Hazarika’s run matters beyond Assam or India. She is part of the pipeline that can turn pickleball into something bigger than a weekend craze: a sport with recognizable stars, regional contenders and the kind of athletic credibility that makes mainstream attention easier to sustain.