IPA President Suryaveer Singh Bullar Makes Bold Claim About Pickleball’s Potential Future in India

MartinNovember 25, 2025

Suryaveer Singh Bullar, the President of the Indian Pickleball Association and Pickleball World Cup gold medallist, sees a bright future ahead for pickleball, especially in India. This future is so bright, in fact, that Bullar sees the sport reaching rarefied status in the next years or so.

Part of the reason Bullar is so bullish about pickleball, particularly in India, is the establishment of the Indian Pickleball League (IPBL), which is set to take place on 1–7 December 2025, with six pioneer teams aiming for pickleball glory.

“Pickleball is on the rise, as you know it’s already the fastest-growing sport in India and the world. So I see the sport only growing year after year, and I see the league getting bigger and making the sport bigger in India. I am very confident that pickleball is going to be the second-largest sport after cricket in India,” Bullar told Times Now in a recent interview.

Cricket, of course, is the most popular sport of India. It is to India what baseball is to the US, or basketball is to the Philippines, or football is to so many countries. Cricket is so popular in the Indian subcontinent that some mistake it to be India’s national sport (spoiler alert: it isn’t).

In Bullar’s estimation, this growth will in part be fuelled by the IPBL, which was launched by The Times Group to give India’s pickleball stars and emerging talent a platform to compete and have fun on a country-wide setting. It is India’s official and only national league for pickleball, and is sanctioned by the IPA, which is in turn recognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports of India.

Set to unveil in a week’s time, Bullar divulged to Times Now that the IPBL is already drawing lots of interest, so much so that expansion, according to the IPA president, is very much on the table.

“Absolutely. In fact, after the event on the 18th [formal announcement of the league’s first five teams], there has been a huge demand for teams,” Bullar said. “There are so many people who have been reaching out to me and other people, and I think there are definitely going to be more teams next year.”

Needless to say, pickleball really has made inroads in India, and the road ahead looks brighter than ever.