Bengal IPA Nationals Champion Amrita Mukherjee Sounds Warning To Other States: 'Kolkata Already Has...'

5th seed Amrita Mukherjee got the better of 3rd seed Rakshikha Ravi to lift the 19+ Open Women Singles (Pro Open) title in the 4th IPA Nationals Pickleball at Bennett University on Saturday.

West Bengal’s Amrita kept the flag flying high with some classy display on the court. Amrita, who has a DUPR rating of 3.801, dominated the game from the start and went on to defeat Rakshika (DUPR rating 4.113) in straight games. The scoreline read 11-9, 11-3.

In an exclusive interview with PickleballNow, Amrita spoke on a number of issues including the rise and growth of pickleball in West Bengal.

I'm very happy with the level of play that I could produce in the match. Because the opponent, my opponent was very strong and I actually lost to her yesterday in the group stage. So I was looking for a comeback also against her and I'm very glad that I could make it happen and you know, it's the first time West Bengal is being a part of this IPA Nationals. It's been a very exciting journey over the last few days.

Definitely. When you play against someone you kind of get familiar with their game and you Try to figure out what can work the next time you play against them and I think I was successful in implementing those changes and yeah, it was a great experience overall.

So we are a team of 14 players from West Bengal for the first time participating in this IPA Nationals. West Bengal already has a very thriving pickleball community and we also had a PWR 100 tournament a few months back. It's a great experience for us and we can only grow from here and learn from the matches that we played and just kind of try to get better and better in the upcoming tournaments.

If you can speak a bit more about Kolkata's pickleball culture.

So Kolkata has already around a hundred pickleball courts. We have a very active and enthusiastic community of players. The level of play needs to go up which will happen the more competitions we kind of participate in. I think this tournament is a good benchmark for us to analyse where we are at and where we need to improve.

We run a printing press basically, and I also coach tennis I was a professional tennis player. I used to play in the national and ITF circuit and international circuit as well for the last year or so I've been dabbling in pickleball.

Bennett University, established by the country’s leading media entity, The Times Group, is one of India’s leading private sector higher education institutions and is committed to fostering academic excellence and holistic development. With state-of-the-art facilities and a focus on innovation, Bennett University aims to develop sport initiatives that not only enrich the student experience – but also acts as a nursery for fostering high level sports talent.

The Indian Pickleball Association is the official governing body for pickleball in India and is dedicated to promoting, developing, and organizing the sport across the country. The association continues to inspire players of all ages and skill levels to embrace the game through events like the IPA Nationals. IPA is affiliated with the Asian Pickleball Association (APA) and the Global Pickleball Federation (GPF).

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