Growth of pickleball enormous: Khaitan

GSPBL | Co-founder Shashank Khaitan feels Indian players will benefit immensely

- Haridev Pushparaj

With the Global Sports Pickleball League (GSPBL) scheduled from December 16-23 at the Andheri Sports Complex, Global Sports Pickleball co-founder Shashank Khaitan shared his thoughts on pickleball, its growth and potential and much more in this exclusive Q&A with The Free Press Journal.

Excerpts

Q. I'll just start off by asking, what are your thoughts on the Global Sports Pickleball League starting on December 16th?..Your expectations from the league..

A. We're really looking forward to showcasing this to the world, our partnerships in terms of our streaming broadcasting partners with Zee5 coming on board. So we're really, I think, seeing a surge in pickleball. We're also seeing a surge in the world wanting to watch it and come and play. And for us specifically with the league, with us having such a grand event spread over almost 8 days of December. We're really hoping that people, not just the players, but also a lot of people come and just participate, view it, and really see what pickleball is all about.

Q. Shashank, how do you see the growth of pickleball in the last couple of years and the potential it has going forward as a popular sport?