Team Nagaland wins 11 medals, dominates Kolkata Open Pickleball Championships
A 22-player Nagaland squad left Kolkata with 11 medals, led by Vilasier Khate’s two singles golds and a silver decided 16-14 in the 30+ final.
Team Nagaland turned the Kolkata Open Pickleball Championships into a breakthrough statement, finishing with 11 medals, including eight golds, against a field of 310 players from across India. The 22-member squad delivered its best results in the event’s singles and doubles draws, showing that Nagaland’s rapid rise in pickleball has already reached the national stage.
Vilasier Khate stood at the center of the surge. He was named Player of the Tournament after winning gold in Advanced Men’s Singles and Intermediate Men’s Singles, then adding silver in the 30+ men’s singles final after a 16-14 loss to Rahul Belwal. Sonia Sarkar was named Emerging Player and claimed gold in Intermediate Women’s Singles, while Nagaland’s doubles pairs piled up the rest of the haul in a tournament that stretched across 30 categories and 1,021 matches over four days.
The gold rush also came from Kabinlo Kent and Imsuren Longchar in Advanced Men’s Doubles, Megotsolie Khate and Elona Ayemi in Intermediate Mixed Doubles, David Murry and Kabinlo Kent in Beginner Men’s Doubles, David Murry and Lentina Longkumer in Beginner Mixed Doubles, and Elona Ayemi and Lentina Longkumer in Beginner Women’s Doubles. Nagaland’s three silvers came through Alemyim and Lizavi in Women’s Doubles, David and Tonoto in Intermediate Men’s Doubles, and Khate’s runner-up finish in the 30+ singles bracket.
For the Nagaland Pickleball Association, the result was as much about structure as talent. Officials said pickleball had been introduced in the state only about a year ago, yet the association now counts around 100 players and sees over 20 courts in Dimapur alone. That growth has been visible in a short burst of milestones, beginning with the first official Nagaland Pickleball Open at Aiko Greens, Dimapur, on July 13, 2025, and continuing with the inaugural Mithun-Rhino Pickleball Championship in Dimapur on March 14, 2026.
The Kolkata result now places Nagaland inside a wider competitive map that is changing quickly. Nathan Kaurinta Zeliang said the team’s performance was historic and showed Nagaland players could compete at par with seasoned national opponents, while Kuchi R. Zeliang described the trip as a valuable learning experience against far stronger outside opposition. That matters as the Indian Pickleball Association, the country’s government-recognized national governing body, continues to professionalize the sport, and as the 2026 Pickleball World Cup heads to Da Nang, Vietnam, from August 30 to September 6, the first edition ever held in Asia. On May 4, Team Nagaland returned to Dimapur Airport to a welcome that reflected more than medal count, but the arrival of a new force in Indian pickleball.
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