IPBL: Lucknow Leopards, Chennai Super Warriors assert dominance

The inaugural Indian Pickleball League kicked off with Lucknow Leopards and Chennai Super Warriors dominating their matches at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

New Delhi: The Indian Pickleball League (IPBL) – the country’s first-ever professional pickleball league – marked the beginning of its inaugural edition with teams Lucknow Leopards and Chennai Super Warriors asserted their dominance on the opening day at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Monday.

Lucknow Leopards opened their campaign with a commanding 4-1 victory over Bengaluru Blasters. (IPBL)

Along with table-toppers Lucknow and Chennai, Hyderabad Royals also registered a decisive win to set the tone for a competitive week ahead.

Lucknow Leopards opened their campaign with a commanding 4-1 victory over Bengaluru Blasters. India’s top-ranked player Aditya Ruhela led the charge, outclassing Vietnamese international Phuc Huynh 15-10 in a commanding season starter. After Ruhela set the tempo with Huynh’s takedown, Bengaluru briefly clawed back in men’s doubles.

However, Shelby Bates tore through women’s singles 15-5, then paired with Pearl Amalsadiwala for a well-fought 15-13 doubles win. The 21–17 Grand Rally sealed the tie with Ryler Deheart and Bates being awarded the best players of the tie.

In Tie-2, Hyderabad Royals secured a composed 4–2 win over Capital Warriors Gurgaon, taking all four early matches before Warriors clawed back with a spirited Grand Rally finish.

Ben Newell’s gritty 15-13 opener established early dominance, followed by a strong men’s doubles performance alongside Divyanshu Kataria. The seasoned Megan Fudge delivered the day’s closest contest, a thrilling 15-14 singles win, before teaming up with Snehal Patil to claim the women’s doubles 15-10. Newell and Fudge were awarded the best players of the tie.

Later in the evening for the last tie of the day, Chennai Super Warriors bounced back from a match down to sweep their tie against Mumbai Smashers 5-1. DUPR Men’s Singles World No. 3 Quang Duong set the Smashers up with the perfect start, defeating Mitchell Hargreaves 15-12.

However, Hargreaves partnered with Harsh Mehta to sweep the men’s doubles 15-9. With momentum on the side, Chennai raced to a 4-1 with Roos van Reek winning the women’s singles, while the van Reek-Aaliya Ebrahim duo claimed victory in women’s doubles. With a 21-18 victory in the Grand Rally, Chennai capped off their night with van Reek and Mehta claiming the players of the tie honours.