Chandigarh gets a new game called Padel

“When I saw people playing Padel in Spain, I was impressed by the idea of playing on a small court as compared to tennis and having a mix of both tennis and squash. When I asked fellow golfers about Padel, they told me that it’s one of the most emerging sports in Europe and more than five million people play the sport in Spain alone. So we thought of introducing the sport in Chandigarh,” says 27-year-old Siddhant Jain while speaking with The Indian Express.

Padel, which was a brainchild of Mexican industrialist Enrique Corcuera, was devised by the Mexican in 1969 at his house in Acapulco, where he altered the tennis court. It was in 1974 that the sport was noticed by Spanish prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe-Langenburg on a private visit to the Mexican that the sport was introduced in Spain.

According to the Padel Federation of India, the sport sees the presence of more than 25,000 courts in Argentina as well as the same number in Spain. The sport sees doubles players competing on a 20m by 10 m court with string-less Padel rackets and the balls similar like tennis balls but having less air pressure. The court is also enclosed by a 10-ft high glass wall structure supported by metal wall and the serve being underhand with a similar scoring system of tennis. The players are allowed to play off the wall too.

“The serve in Padel is not offensive since it is an underhand serve. So it takes someone to learn the sport quickly as compared to tennis or badminton. The racket too is easier to control and the doubles game sees longer rallies. A country like Sweden has seen the sport growing rapidly recently with 3,000 new courts and we see Indians too taking up the sport eagerly. More than 35 per cent of the players who play Padel in the world are women,” says Jain.

Getting the customised court along with the turf was a challenge for the trio. Karanveer Singha, who had played the sport in Dubai during his golfing trips, spent a lot of time talking with local vendors to get the court built in Chandigarh with only the turf being imported.

“If one compares Padel with Pickleball, another emerging leisure sport, Padel needs specialised courts. Pickleball can be played on badminton as well as tennis courts. So our main challenge was to get the court localised. We are only importing the turf right now,” says Singha.

With the sport having a World Padel Tour too, Jain sees more and more youngsters taking up the sport apart from middle-age professionals as well as elders. While the Indian Padel Federation is based in Bengaluru with Indian chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand joining as an advisor, the Chandigarh trio are also planning to organise a league.

“We have the youngest player of eight years to a 77-year-old playing Padel during the last two weeks. Since anyone can learn the sport within a day, it also works for professionals as well as elders. We plan to organise a league apart from approaching schools and corporate offices to try the sport,” says Jain.

Project Padel charges Rs 1,200 per hour for four players with two coaches offering coaching for newcomers and the charges inclusive of the equipment. With only one court at Chandigarh Club at present, the trio hope to add more courts in Tricity.

“Padel is gaining in popularity in cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad and Chandigarh too has the potential for the sport to grow,” says Singha.