The Decathlon Padel League: Driving the Padel revolution in India

Come the 3rd of May, all the padel aficionados in the country will head to Gurgaon, for what awaits them is the grand finale of the Decathlon Padel League 2025 - India's Biggest Padel league.

Currently in Season 1, the Decathlon Padel League was conceptualized to grow the sport from the grass root level and build its ecosystem across the country.

Fun meets fitness

While conventional racquet sports have traditionally maintained a stronghold, padel has been quietly rising to the surface and making inroads on the popularity front.

As of early 2025, over a hundred padel courts have popped up across the nation with Mumbai alone owning 50 courts. The trajectory is only upwards as they are being set up on a regular basis across the metros and in select tier 2 cities as well.

In addition to the fun element and people using padel as a medium to network and connect over the weekends, the fitness element of the sport doesn't go unnoticed, with a single game burning possibly over a thousand calories.

To further fuel the flame, the Decathlon Padel League provides a platform for players to compete mid-week in their community, thereby strengthening the local player pool.

300 players across eight cities

The league which began on the 25th of March, has featured 500 matches and over 300 players across eight cities - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata and Mumbai. Players tested their skills across three categories - Open Advance Doubles, Open Intermediate Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

Aryan Goveas and Rahul Motwani from Mumbai, Rohit Dhiman and Aryan Thakur from Chandigarh in the Advance Category, Johann Fernandes and Adit Patel from Mumbai, Steisha Buddhala and Rohan Jain from Gurgaon in Mixed Doubles Category, Eran Saiteja and Surya Sirisala from Hyderabad, Varun Dattani and Anish Gupta from Mumbai in the Intermediate Category are some of the notable finalists who have qualified for the grand finale to be held on the 3rd of May.

What makes the Decathlon Padel League all the more exciting is the fact that the players who win the city level will get exciting prizes and each city has a prize pool of Rs. 50,000, with a collective prize pool of 4 lakhs across all eight cities and a mouth watering prize pool of 5 lakhs for the Grand Finale, making the total prize pool of season 1 to a whopping 9 lakhs.

The league itself was conceived with a vision of providing the best possible exposure to padel players across the country. And thus, city-level winners go one-step further and compete against players from other emerging padel hubs in the All-India Finale at Padel Rushh - India's biggest indoor premium padel facility - on the 3rd of May.

A Padel India initiative

Driving the mission to empower the padel ecosystem is Padel India, which promotes the sport via engaging tournaments and events.

Incidentally, Padel India is the first company to introduce prize money, the first to introduce a national series, and the first to launch multi-city leagues in the sport. All of this is run exclusively on Pi Play, India’s first padel app.

Since the launch of the multi-city leagues, more cities have applied to enter future editions. And the initiative is only expanding the network and allowing more players to participate and compete to become national padel champions.

This niche sport is undoubtedly on the upward trajectory and Padel India is at the very heart of the ascendency.