By Dharani Balasubramaniam,Sudipta Biswas

Copyright timesnownews

The women’s doubles final at the Rise Up Championship – Pickleball by the Bay 2025 promises to be a battle of grit and flair as two determined pairs step onto the sun-kissed courts of Chennai’s VGP Golden Beach Resort on Sunday. On one side stand Rakshikha Ravi and Sindoor Vineet Mittal, who stormed into the title clash with a straight-game (11–6, 11–9) win over Pearl Nozer Amalsadiwala and Naomi Nozer Amalsadiwala. On the other, Snehal Kishor Patil and Joshika Premkumar earned their spot after dispatching Urvi Abhyankar and Shreya Chakraborty 11–4, 11–8. For Rakshikha and Sindoor, the semifinal victory was more than just a win – it was an experience. “It was exhilarating,” Sindoor told Pickleball Now. “Just look at this – by the bay, we are playing pickleball by the bay. It’s just an amazing environment. We had really tough competition, but we put out our best and managed to sail through.” Rakshikha said their meticulous preparation before the tournament paid off. “I think we played a great game. You know, we took out the number one seed, so I am really happy. We had a plan, we executed it, and we played really well,” she said. The duo, which is set to represent India at the Pickleball World Cup Florida in October-November, has teamed up only recently, but their synergy has been undeniable. “Not a really long time, but yes, we partnered recently,” Sindoor explained. “We’ve been playing tournaments together and we are doing really well together.” That bond has fueled their confidence heading into the final. “I am going for the gold,” Rakshikha declared. Sindoor echoed her partner without hesitation: “We are going for the gold, absolutely.” Swimmer turned pickler Their journeys into pickleball couldn’t have been more different. Sindoor, a former swimmer, discovered the sport just last year. “I am not a tennis player. I am actually a swimmer and I started pickleball last year. It is absolutely my first racquet sport,” she said. What started casually soon became a passion. “I think it was the community, the recreational feeling. I was at the club and people were starting to play. A few of my friends encouraged me to pick it up. We just started playing once a day, and I completely got hooked. Now I end up playing every single day.” Rakshikha, meanwhile, comes with a strong tennis background. “I played nine years of tennis and then I switched to pickleball,” she said. What began as recreation quickly turned into a professional pursuit. “As you said, it is really addictive. I started off for fun but then I got a really good hang of it. So now, yes, I am competing professionally.” ‘We killed it’ For Joshika, the win was all about strategy and composure. “It went really good. The opponents played really well. It was a very tough match but then we held it together from start to end. We had a good strategy and we killed it,” she said with a smile. Snehal, who partnered with Joshika for the very first time, admitted she had her doubts initially. “I was a little excited and I played with Joshika for the first time and I didn’t feel that our coordination would be good or not. Still, we went to the finals and we played a good match. We made a comeback, we were a little down and a little up, but the game was good,” she said. It was also a personal milestone for Snehal, who travelled to Chennai for the first time to play a tournament. “The arrangement was also very good and I came to Chennai for the first time to play a tournament. I felt very good,” said Snehal, who also reached the women’s singles as well as mixed doubles final. Joshika’s path into pickleball has been fast and furious. “I have been playing for very less, I think around 5–6 months, but I played a lot of tournaments in these 6 months. I directly went to tournaments and then I started training. I am a tennis player actually – I played around 25 tournaments already,” she boasted. The transition from tennis to pickleball, she said, was natural. “Even if you are a badminton or any racquet sport player, I think pickleball is a very easy game to learn because it’s almost the same hand-eye coordination, the movements and everything. The more pickleball you play, the better you get at it. In tennis, we had a very fast game, so initially I just wanted to kill every ball. That’s what I am doing right now. It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of hard work. You need to keep playing a lot, but trust me, the transition is very easy.” Despite being last-minute partners, Snehal and Joshika are brimming with strong belief heading into the final. “We are very hopeful. Actually, we were the last-minute partner. I was not even supposed to play the tournament because I was sick. I thought, okay, let me just give it a shot because she wanted to—and then here we are, through to the finals. So, hopefully, we will win. We will do it,” Snehal said with conviction. Meanwhile, their opponents in the semifinal, Urvi Abhyankar from Mumbai and Shreya Chakraborty from Kolkata, admitted they had mixed feelings about their performance. “Honestly, it wasn’t our best day. It wasn’t our best match. We could have done much better,” said Shreya. Urvi added, “We played a very solid game in the morning, the quarters—we made a good upset. But I think this is our first time pairing up together. It’s a lot of learning to do and definitely not the best match, but it’s only going up from here. We will be coming back really strong, I feel.” As the sun sets on Chennai’s golden shores, Snehal Patel and Joshika Premkumar will now set their sights on the women’s doubles final against Rakshikha and Sindoor – fuelled by resilience, fresh chemistry, and the audacity of a partnership that almost didn’t happen.