The First Bangkok Open
Pickleball Tournament
BY SUNIL VALAVALKAR
T
he Bangkok Open Pickleball Tournament took place
at the Santisuk English School on February 19 and
involved an international cast including players from
Thailand, India, the U.S., Australia, Vietnam and several
other Asian countries.
Although it wasn’t an IFP-sanctioned tournament,
the event reflected a high standard of organization and
competition.
It all started in December 2016, when Steve Cable
sent an email to me inviting Indian players to join the
tournament.
We didn’t expect a huge response, but a week before the
sign-up deadline, there were over 30 requests from players
all across India. The picklers responded out of pure passion,
willing to cover all travel costs on their own. In the end,
there were five players from state of Maharashtra, nine
from Rajasthan, four from Bihar, two from Jharkhand and
three from Uttarakhand.
Rahul Wani created playing kits for the whole team
consisting of blazers, trousers and shirts displaying AIPA’s
logo and the Indian national flag.
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Even though high-level Indian picklers like Manish
Rao, Atul Edward, Shanai Mehta and Anish Mehta have
competed in international tournaments before, none have
ever done so on behalf of their country. As such, it was a
special treat to see a pickleball team in their national colors
for the first time.
The tournament consisted of three events: men’s
doubles, mixed doubles and women’s doubles.
The initial rounds were played in a round-robin style,
where four groups had to play three matches. The top two
teams from each group qualified for the knock-out rounds.
The following pairs from India reached the qualifying
rounds in men’s doubles: Manish and Sachin, Dr. Bharat
and Ashwani, Anand and Siddarth, and Gajendra and
Gourav.
The three medal positions would all be won by Indian
players, but it was anyone’s guess as to which pair would
come out on top.
While playing the semi-finals against Anand and
Siddarth, Sachin started cramping. He tried to continue
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