India Kids Team Wins Silver As Junior Side Finishes Fourth At Pickleball World Cup

India’s campaign at the Pickleball World Cup in Vietnam ended with a mixed but encouraging set of results on Saturday, with the junior team finishing fourth and the kids’ team winning a silver medal. India’s Open team and Masters side also bowed out in the quarterfinals.

The junior team, led by Arjun Singh and featuring Naomi Amalsadiwala, Aditya Singh, Diya Mattipati, Dev Shah, D.A. Raju and Purvansh Patel, suffered a narrow defeat against hosts Vietnam in the third-place contest to finish fourth.

India’s kids’ team enjoyed a strong run to the final. Veer Shah, Mahika Rathod, Praathnaa Motiani, Kaveer Mehta, Viransh Chopra, Charanya Selvanarayan and Maanasi Karthik defeated Japan 3-0 in the semifinal before losing to the USA in the final to settle for silver.

In the Open category, India fought hard against the USA before going down 2-4 in the quarterfinals. The contest was evenly poised at 2-2 midway through the tie, but Katerina Stewart and Ronan Camron won their respective singles matches to send the USA into the semifinals.

India’s Masters team also exited in the quarterfinals after a closely contested battle against Vietnam. The teams were level at 2-2, forcing a deciding final tie, which Vietnam eventually won. Shakuntala Devi and Petulia Balaji gave India an early lead, while Bhushan Akut and Petulia Balaji secured the fourth tie to force the decider.

India also celebrated individual success, with Purvansh Patel winning gold in the U18 boys’ singles and Veer Shah securing bronze in the U14 boys’ singles, adding further cheer to the country’s World Cup campaign.