Telangana leads South Zone Pickleball Championship with 21 medals on day one
Telangana banked 21 opening-day medals in Hyderabad, then showed depth from Under-12 to 60-plus that points to a real pickleball pipeline, not just a home-court spike.
Telangana did more than start fast at the South Zone Pickleball Championship in Hyderabad. It set the tone for the region. The hosts grabbed 21 medals on the opening day at The HUB Pickleball in Kompally, collecting five golds, nine silvers and seven bronzes while finishing ahead of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in the team standings.
That opening burst matters because it came inside a championship built to test the full range of the sport, not just its junior edge. The three-day event, held from June 13 to 15, drew entries across Under-12, Under-14, Under-16, Under-19, Open, 35-plus, 50-plus and 60-plus categories, and registration closed just three days after the June 3 announcement. Telangana’s ability to dominate that spread says as much about its structure as it does about its medal count.
The results showed real depth. In Under-12 boys, Srihari Shathayu of Karnataka struck gold. Telangana answered in Under-14 boys through Sega Dhanwanth, while the girls’ podium featured players from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Under-16 produced a mixed-state medal spread, and the Under-19 brackets underlined Telangana’s breadth through Safal Kochhar, Nihal Kurapati, Charan Kumar, Gia Gandhi, Malishka Kuramu and S. Devika. In the Open men’s bracket, Andhra Pradesh’s Ananth Mani took gold ahead of Telangana’s Saran Kavali. In Open women’s, Malishka Kuramu finished on top for Telangana.
That mix of youth, open and senior divisions is the bigger signal. A state that can field contenders from Under-12 through 60-plus is treating pickleball as a lifetime sport, not a novelty event. It also helps explain why Telangana has been able to build momentum so quickly. The Telangana Pickleball Association staged its inaugural state ranking tournament in October 2025, a meet that reportedly featured more than 150 competitive matches and served as selection trials for the IPA Nationals, where Telangana planned to field a 56-member team.
The institutional backdrop is just as important. The Indian Pickleball Association was recognized by India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in May 2025 and says it now governs rankings, tournaments and player development nationwide. The 4th IPA Nationals in Greater Noida drew more than 500 players from over 20 states, a scale that gives state and zonal events clearer national consequences. With the 2026 APP Asia Tour including India, the pressure on South Zone states is only growing.
Telangana’s 21-medal start was not just a strong home performance. It was evidence that the state is building the kind of ladder, from juniors to veterans, that can keep producing players when the spotlight moves on.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
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