RISHABH PAREKH, OP
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Pickleball Open was held Sunday at the twin venues—Grand Awaas, Phulnakhara, and Lavanya Cosmos, Dhabaleswar. The sporting event drew strong participation across age groups and categories, underlining the rapid growth of pickleball in the state. The state open featured national-level players battling for top spots in Odisha’s pickleball domain. The event was conducted under the leadership of tournament director Soven Jena and organiser Rajanikant Das, and was graced by chief guests Ashis Garg and Sneha Garg, owners of G-Group.
The concluding events featured the women’s singles, where Prasidhi Poddar claimed the gold medal in the final showdown against Sakshi Agrawal, who settled for the second spot. Sneha Garg and Subhashree Patra finished as joint bronze winners.
In the open singles, Ansuman Babu emerged champion against his doubles partner Dhyanendra Bhanjdeo, who missed the gold in a thriller final set showdown. Aryanman Patnaik and Sumeet Panda were joint bronze winners. The mixed doubles witnessed Prasidhi Poddar and Dhyanendra Bhanjdeo clinch gold in an intense battle against Sneha Garg and Ansuman Babu who took second place in the podium, while Sumeet Panda with Sweekruti Dash and Anmol Dash with Sakshi Agrawal shared bronze. The open doubles title was secured by Roshan Mishra and Aditya Satpathy, dominating their fixtures throughout the event. Anmol Das and Sunil Sahu finished as runners-up. Radhamadhab Panda with Ekalavya Mahapatra and Dhyanendra Bhanjdeo with Ansuman Babu claimed joint third place.
In the 30+ doubles, Roshan Mishra and Sumeet Panda took gold, defeating Subrat Sahoo and Asish Prusty in another epic finale. Ansuman Naya,k with Soumya Panda alongside Lagnajeet Pattnaik, with Akash Panigrahi shared joint bronze honours. Soven Jena and Rajendra Agrawal sealed gold in the 40+ doubles against Ansuman Nayak and Satyajit Kumar, while Sunil Sahu, with Santosh Jena and Laganjeet with Soumya Panda, finished joint bronze winners. In 50+ doubles, where Pradeep Singh and Udip Das bagged gold, Narottam Patra and Madhabanda Biswal took silver, and Rajanikant Das and Rama Rao completed the podium as joint bronze winners.
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