New Delhi, Dec. 5 -- Started as a recreational sport, Pickleball has taken up pace and is one of the fastest growing sports in India. A paddle sport, that is a mixture of tennis, badminton and table tennis, a lot of people are choosing pickleball over other Olympic sports in the country.

Based on several reports, the originated back in 1965 by three individuals named Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum. Little did they knew that the game would evolve from a backyard pastime into a professional sport with its own governing body.

In India, pickleball made its entry in 2006 by Sunil Valavalkar, whose first interaction with the game came in 1999 in Canada. Valavalkar formed the All India Pickleball Association (AIPA) in 2008 and ...