Mumbai: In a significant development for India’s evolving sports ecosystem, cricket legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni has expanded his involvement in padel with the merger of 7Padel MS Dhoni and PadelPark India, the country’s leading padel ecosystem. The unification brings together two complementary platforms to create a single, national entity aimed at accelerating the growth of padel across India.
The merger establishes a unified platform focused on rapid scale, deeper community engagement and professionally structured play in one of India’s fastest-growing racquet sports. With a consolidated ecosystem covering infrastructure, coaching, tournaments and community programmes, the combined entity is positioned to drive padel’s next phase of expansion nationwide.
Since August 2024, Parth Jindal, Founder of JSW Sports and one of India’s most prominent corporate promoters of sport, has been an early investor in PadelPark India. With MS Dhoni now stepping in as a Partner in the merged entity, the platform further strengthens institutional confidence and emerges as a defining catalyst for the sport’s long-term development in India.
Commenting on the merger, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Partner, PadelPark India, said, “In a country with over 10 million racquet sport players, Tier-1 cities have already shown how quickly padel can grow. The next step is taking that momentum into newer markets and making the sport accessible beyond the metros. Once courts are available, people will take to it naturally – padel is social, it’s played in doubles, and it’s built around community, which suits India. And with PadelPark India’s 360° ecosystem – from courts and coaching to tournaments and community programmes, we can scale with consistency and build padel as a professionally run sport across the country.”
Nikhil Sachdev, Co-Founder, PadelPark India, added, “This unification represents more than a partnership; it marks a shared belief in how padel should grow in India. Bringing 7Padel MS Dhoni together with PadelPark India creates a single, aligned platform capable of elevating standards, strengthening participation, and building long-term credibility for the sport. Dhoni’s leadership, values, and clarity of thought add tremendous depth to our mission. Together, we now have the structure, vision, and momentum to define the future of padel in India.”
Founded by Nikhil Sachdev, Jigar Doshi, Pratik Doshi and Ronak Daftary, PadelPark India has played a pioneering role in building the country’s most comprehensive padel ecosystem. The organisation currently operates more than 40 owned and managed courts and has contributed to a wider national footprint of over 200 courts delivered across India. Over the next year, the platform aims to scale to 400–500 courts, significantly expanding access to world-class padel facilities.
Globally, padel continues to witness strong momentum. According to the World Padel Report 2025, released in December by the International Padel Federation (FIP), the sport has surpassed 77,300 courts worldwide across 150 countries. India is closely mirroring this growth trajectory, moving from approximately 70 courts in 2023 to around 100 by mid-2024, and now exceeding 300 courts nationwide.
Further strengthening the sport’s outlook, November 2025 marked a milestone when the International Padel Federation and its continental body, Padel Asia, announced that padel has been officially recognised by the Olympic Council of Asia and will be included as an official sport in upcoming editions of the Asian Games.
With the merger of 7Padel MS Dhoni and PadelPark India, the unified platform is set to accelerate the adoption of padel across the country, building an accessible, community-led and professionally run sport for India’s rapidly growing racquet sports audience.
