Hyderabad, Aug 26 (IANS) Hyderabad Open, an initiative of the World Pickleball League On Tour along with Hyderabad Superstars, concluded with Kuldip Mahajan, Anuja Maheshwari, Vanshik Kapadia and Vrushali Thakare steamrolling the professional categories in the tournament.

The event witnessed a total of over 250 players over a total of 3 days with a total prize pool of 15 lakh. The final day of the Hyderabad Open witnessed the finals of eight categories, including the Pro Men’s Singles, won by Hyderabad Superstars’ Kuldip Mahajan, edging out local hero Sameer Varma in two straight sets. Anuja Maheshwari took on Vrushali Thakare, winning the Pro Women’s Singles category. Vrushali managed to get the better of Anuja in both the Pro Women’s doubles with Isha Lakhani and Pro Mixed Doubles with Vanshik Kapadia.

Vanshik Kapadia added the Pro Men’s Doubles championship to his tally, pairing up with Tejas Mahajan to beat Sonu Vishwakarma and Ritam Chawla in three sets. The winning pair completely blanked out Sonu and Ritam in what was an extremely close match before the third set.

Backed by KLO Sports, Rakul Preet Singh and Jackky Bhagnani, Hyderabad Superstars is one of the franchises of the World Pickleball League that is now in its second season. Semi-finalists of Season 1, the Hyderabad Superstars have laid the foundation for a richer pickleball culture in an extremely diverse community and given the opportunity for professional players to seriously think about pickleball as a viable career option.

“So happy to watch the entire pickleball community of Hyderabad showing up to the Hyderabad Open. This is the first step in the right direction to making sure that the next edition of the Hyderabad Open will see over 500 players. We are excited to now put our sights on the upcoming World Pickleball League Season 2 and hope to better our result from last year,” said Rakul Preet Singh and Jackky Bhagnani, co-owners, Hyderabad Superstars.

“Bringing pickleball to Hyderabad is the reason we started out with the World Pickleball League in the first place. We thank them for giving KLO Sports a chance to bring the Hyderabad Superstars alive. The support we got from the community in Hyderabad has been immense and the success of the Hyderabad Open is only testament to the commitment of the players and the pickleball community,” said Srinath Chitturi, co-owner, Hyderabad Superstars (KLO Sports).

–IANS

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