
CHENNAI: The inaugural season of the Tamil Nadu Pickleball Premier League will be held at Vaels International School, Injambakkam, Chennai on February 15 and 16, 2025.
The Tamil Nadu Pickleball association successfully conducted the player auction for the tournament that will see 16 teams fight for the top prize on January 19. With more than 200 players registering for the event, 160 of them were signed by the teams on Sunday. The event was sponsored by the title Sponsor MGM Health Care, powered by Boom Cars and cosponsored by Madha Medical College & Research Institute.
Happening for the first time in Tamil Nadu, the league will have a prominent role increasing the popularity of what is already a rapidly-growing sport in the country. The 16 teams will be split into two groups of eight and play in round-robin format and the top four from each group will advance to the quarterfinals. The team that wins the league will take home `3 lakhs. Runner-up will get `2 lakh while third and fourth place teams will get a lakh each.
Meanwhile, the prize money for the player pool is `6 lakh. Each player successfully signed at the auction will receive a playing fee of at least 30 per cent of the said points they were bid for. For example, if a player is signed for 10,000 auction points, they will receive at least `3000. This apart, the players winning the top four prize pools will get `60,000, `30,000, `20,000 and `10, 000.
Each team will have ten players (two women, two 50+ men and six men open) and each tie will have eight matches — three men's doubles (open), women's doubles, men's 50+ doubles, mixed doubles, split age doubles and a team match. The tournament is structured in such a way that each player gets to play at least two matches.
Teams: Adaia Storm Breakers, Chennai Veerans, Cheeky Cheetahs, Chennai Super Stars, Chennai Super Dinkers, Chennai Dupr Terminatrz, Chennai Super Knights, I5 Indians, Madras Guns, Pickleball Clubhouse Coimbatore, PRC Dinkosaurs, Raunaq Titans, Royal Stallions, Salem Slammers, The Lob Mob, Thiruchi Thumbis
Timings: Feb 15 & 16, from 7.30 AM till 6.45 PM
Venue: Vaels International School, Injambakkam.