Dinkers Pickleball, D-Joy Sports Join Forces to Bring Global Coaching and Tour Events to India
India’s pickleball scene just got a serious upgrade after Dinkers Pickleball Academy entered into a strategic partnership with D-Joy Sports Academy, according to a press release. The collaboration aims to bring high-performance training, international tournaments, and athlete exchange programmes to Indian players, with several of those initiatives starting in 2027.
Pickleball is booming in India, but the distance between the domestic scene and global circuits like the PPA and Asian Pickleball Tours remains wide. The partnership is meant to bridge those technical, tactical, and competitive gaps.
At the heart of it, Dinkers Head Coach Dhiren Patel and Kyle Yates, an American pickleball legend and Hall of Famer who serves as Head Coach of D-Joy Sports Academy, will work together to design and run specialised training modules for competitive Indian players. The release says the programmes will focus on transition-zone resets, advanced dinking strategies, and third-shot drops under Yates’ international framework.
What’s on the Menu From Dinkers and D-Joy
The tie-up covers a lot of ground:
- Masterclasses and legend visits: Coaching clinics in key Indian metros led by Yates and guest international pros, plus an annual visit to Dinkers by Yates himself
- D-Joy Tour India legs: Dinkers will host two legs of the D-Joy Tour in India starting in 2027, giving local talent a shot at elite competition on home soil
- Indo-Vietnam tournaments: A bilateral series between India and Vietnam
- Player exchanges: Top-ranked Indian athletes get the chance to train at D-Joy’s international facilities
- Coach exchanges: Senior D-Joy coaching staff will run camps to upskill grassroots and academy trainers across India
Big Talk, Big Goals
“Indian players possess exceptional natural reflexes, speed, and hunger to win,” Patel said in the release. He added that the collaboration is “built to place Indian athletes consistently on international podiums.”
Yates, for his part, called India “one of the most exciting, high-potential pickleball markets in the world” and said Dinkers “has built an incredible foundation.”
Of course, announcements are one thing and results are another. The real test will come in 2027, when the first D-Joy Tour legs arrive and Indian players get to measure themselves against the best.
Still, if the plan delivers, India’s pickleball players won’t have to leave home to find a world stage. Some of it is coming to them.
