ALL INDIA PICKLEBALL ASSOCIATION

THE GAME IN INDIA 

Sunil Valavalkar, a true sport lover, played this sport for the first time in Canada in the year 1999. His attraction towards this sport made him visit second time to Canada in the year 2006. While returning back home he brought few paddles and balls with him. Ever since he came back from Canada, he started giving demonstration of this unique sport to various sports lovers of Mumbai. To his surprise this sport was very warmly received by cross section of the society. Majority of today’s population is eager to play such a sport which is easy to play, which would offer them fun and at the same time it would also make them fit. Pickleball is satisfying all these requirements of modern society of India and hence there is encouraging response for this sport in India.
Today, Pickleball has reached to 16 states of India with around 3000 registered players playing the game. The players participate in national and international tournaments. The formation of All India Pickleball Association (AIPA) was an important happening in the history of Indian Pickleball. Since then, there has been a structured growth of Pickleball in India.
 

 

Mr Sunil Valavalkar was under the impression that he could promote Pickleball easily in India. But as he approached his friends and other sports lovers with the sport, he understood that he was wrong. People around him started laughing at him with Pickleball. But as more people started ignoring him, he became more convinced that Pickleball is the need of the hour. During those tough days, Mr Valavalkar felt that he needs a strong organization behind his efforts. That thought prompted him to set up a Pickleball promotion body. 
 

Mr Valavalkar contacted almost 30 friends and relatives to join him in his venture. But he was grossly dismissed by them. Finally, he persuaded 8 men to join him. In March 2007, they applied for registration under Section 25 of Companies Act 1956. In the meantime, Mr Sunil Valavalkar continued promoting Pickleball. Initially, he took his 10-year old daughter and 8-year old niece to play the sport. In the month of September 2007, he wrote an article on Pickleball in Marathi daily ‘Loksatta’. That article was well-received by the readers and enquiries started pouring in. It helped to keep his enthusiasm alive. Meanwhile the struggle to get the company registered continued.

 
The 8 men joined hands and raised nearly Rs. 1 lakh for the organization. After almost 20-months of follow up with the Registrar of Companies (ROC), they got the certificate of incorporation on 12th December 2008. The ALL INDIA PICKLEBALL ASSOCIATION (AIPA) was formed.