Around the World
PICKLEBALL ARRIVES
IN KOLKATA
O
By George Dwyer
USAPA MEMBER
n Sunday, January 5,
pickleball rolled into
Kolkata, India, for the
first time in recorded
history.
Ever since the Mumbai-based
All India Pickleball Association was
launched in 2007, pickleball in India
has spread rapidly. A national open
tournament is now held each year
in January, and the level of play is
climbing steadily. But, until this
year, pickleball had never been seen
in one of the nation’s most populous
cities—Kolkata.
In Kolkata, cricket eclipses all
other sports in popular appeal.
British colonizers introduced it
in the 18th century, when the city
was still known as Calcutta, and
the game’s hold on the city has
never let go.
Football (soccer) is the city’s
second favorite sport. But for all
its popularity, football shares one
important drawback with cricket.
Staging a match in either sport
requires a large playing field and
dozens of willing participants,
neither of which are easy to organize
in this very crowded city.
While limited space suppresses
opportunities for play, so too
does the city’s weather. Kolkata
experiences only a brief window of
relief in December/January before
temperatures turn sweltering. By
56
February,
asphalt
becomes
mushy
underfoot,
and the
city’s sidewalks begin to buckle.
Combined with ferocious humidity
and often atrocious air quality, the
disincentives for outdoor sports play
are ample.
In July and August, pounding
monsoon rains arrive, cooling
things off but flooding much of
the city. So, throughout most of
the year, most Kolkata’s sports
enthusiasts sustain their interest
through indoor games, particularly
badminton and table tennis.
Since the dimensions of a
badminton court are nearly
identical to those of a pickleball
court, and indoor courts are
plentiful in Kolkata, it occurred to
me that the city might be ripe for a
formal acquaintance with pickleball.
I was determined to find out.
Fortunately, I am married to a
native Kolkatan. Krishna Roy came
to the United States in 1977 to attend
graduate school, then settled in the
Washington, D.C., area. We met in
1985, married in 1989, and have
been visiting Kolkata nearly every
year since.
On our most recent trip, in
December 2019, I packed a net, some
paddles, and bunch of pickleballs.
Once on the ground, Krishna
reached out to her formidable
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network of old friends, and before
long we secured a commitment
from the Dalhousie Institute, a well-
appointed sporting and social club.
I met with Samir Doshi,
Dalhousie’s director of sporting
activities, and explained that
we were hoping to stage a
demonstration, introducing a “new”
sport. He informed us that the club
had a badminton pavilion, and
courts with boundary lines already
in place. We were welcome to use
it. All we needed to do was throw
up a net and tape down a couple of
NVZ lines.
Samir’s deputy, Saba Ali Firoz,
would host us. She turned out to be
a ferociously competitive high-level
badminton player, and an open-
minded, all-around sportswoman.
Our exhibition would take place
following a basketball camp for 50
teenagers, and Saba would hold
them back to be our core audience.
Perfect.
After that, everything broke our
way. For example, Kolkatans love
food to an extraordinary degree.
They rhapsodize over their sweets
and enter the zone of ecstasy
when the subject is fish. So, when
our demonstration began with
reference to “the kitchen,” we