Sport-Pickleball to launch global rankings system, world tour
25/07/2024 12:07
July 25 (Reuters) - Pickleball World Rankings (PWR) is
launching a global ranking system similar to tennis for the
popular paddle sport, along with a world tour and major
tournaments like Grand Slams, PWR said at its launch event in
Dubai.
The PWR World Series will kick off in March 2025 with a $1.5
million prize money for its Middle East stop, the PWR said in a
statement. The PWR World Tour events, scheduled worldwide, will
offer $15 million prize money.
"This is the highest prize money ever offered in the sport,"
PWR's CEO and founder Pranav Kohli said. "We are delighted to be
the team taking pickleball to the next level both on and off the
court."
Pickleball, a popular sport in the U.S., has seen an
increasing international presence with Professional Pickleball
Association (PPA) announcing last week that it would hold
ranking events outside the country for the first time next year.
Pickleball was featured in the Miami Open in March. Major
League Pickleball, a professional league where former NBA
champion LeBron James is part of a team's ownership group, aims
to have 40 million pickleball players by 2030.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru, editing by Ed
Osmond)
((chiranjit.ojha@thomsonreuters.com;))