Nagaland sponsors Vilasier Khate for Pickleball World Cup qualifying zonals

Nagaland has put real money behind a pathway it hopes will last. The Nagaland Pickleball Association is fully sponsoring Vilasier Khate for Picklebay Zonals - North 2026, giving a player from the Northeast a direct run at India’s route to the Pickleball World Cup in Da Nang, Vietnam.

The zonals run from June 24 to 28 at The Horizon x Courtplay in Gurgaon and carry the weight of an official selection event for Team India’s Open category. Sanctioned as a PWR700 tournament with a prize pool of INR 15 lakhs, the event has become more than a regional stop on the calendar. It is where India’s World Cup picture will start to take shape, with players chosen through the Pro category also earning the chance to represent India in the Open category at the World Cup.

Khate arrives with results that explain why Nagaland is backing him so strongly. At the Kolkata Open 2026, eastern India’s first PWR400 ranking tournament, he won gold in Advanced Men’s Singles and Intermediate Men’s Singles, and silver in 30+ Men’s Singles. He was also named Player of the Tournament at the four-day event, which ran from April 30 to May 3 and drew 310 players across 30 categories for 1,021 matches.

He added to that momentum at the Guwahati Open 2026, where he collected three gold medals across open men’s singles, 30+ men’s singles and 30+ men’s doubles. The profile is unusual even by India’s fast-growing pickleball standards: Khate is also described as a seasoned tennis player with more than 100 national tennis titles and 17 international tennis titles, plus notable junior rankings in India.

For Nagaland, the sponsorship is about more than one entry fee. The package covers registration, round-trip airfare, accommodation and official team jerseys, making it a concrete investment in elite participation rather than a symbolic gesture. The association has said it wants more athletes from Nagaland and the broader Northeast to chase national and international opportunities, and Khate’s run in Gurgaon will serve as a test of that ambition.

That ambition is built on a small but fast-moving local base. Pickleball reached Nagaland only about a year ago, yet the association says it already has around 100 active players, while 22 athletes from the state competed at the Kolkata Open. Earlier in 2026, Nagaland hosted its first-ever state pickleball open, and the Kohima Pickleball Classic drew more than 80 participants with an INR 1 lakh prize pool. Taken together, those steps point to a region trying to turn quick growth into a lasting pipeline, with Khate now carrying the state’s bid onto the national stage.