Komal Mehra, Head of Sports Initiatives and Associations at Usha International, and Ruchika Jain, Chairperson of CII IWN, said the April 26 invitational in Mehrauli will bring together 12 corporate teams and around 70 participants in a mixed team format focused on inclusion, leadership, and wider participation through sport.
Usha has come on board as title sponsor for the first CII IWN Pickleball Invitational, a new corporate sporting initiative that will be held in New Delhi on April 26.
Organised by CII Indian Women Network in association with Usha, the event will take place at REPPP in Mehrauli and will feature 12 corporate teams with around 70 participants, including business leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals. The teams will compete in a mixed format designed to encourage equal participation on court and will play in a Davis Cup style structure.
The event marks CII IWN’s first fundraising sporting initiative and reflects the growing visibility of pickleball within India’s urban and corporate communities. It also points to a broader shift in how professional networks are increasingly using sport as a space for engagement beyond conventional business settings.
According to the organisers, Usha’s association with the event aligns with the network’s focus on women’s leadership and with the company’s wider push to encourage participation in emerging sports and inclusive community driven formats.
CII IWN said the initiative is also rooted in its larger effort to create platforms that support visibility, confidence, and cross industry interaction among women leaders. The organisation noted that women currently hold only around 18 to 20 percent of leadership roles in corporate India, while less than 30 percent of women in urban India actively participate in sports or fitness activities.
Participating teams include Usha, Lovak Capital, and Bajaj Capital Insurance, among others, with players ranging from senior leadership to emerging professionals. The organisers said the event reflects the growing role of sport led engagement within corporate ecosystems.
Komal Mehra, Head, Sports Initiatives and Associations, Usha International, said, “Supporting the larger sporting ecosystem wherein we can empower and enable communities to adopt an active and healthy lifestyle is deeply entrenched into our foundation, especially when it means encouraging more and more women. We believe gender agnostic, inclusive sports go a long way in neutralising power dynamics to grow the team spirit and sportsmanship across ecosystems and are in sync with what the Usha CII IWN Pickleball Invitational is setting out to achieve.”
Ruchika Jain, Chairperson, CII IWN, said, “We are delighted to welcome Usha International as the Title Sponsor of the CII IWN Pickleball Invitational. Their commitment to promoting inclusive sports and empowering women strongly aligns with our vision at CII IWN. This collaboration strengthens our effort to create meaningful platforms where women leaders can engage, compete, and connect. We look forward to building this initiative together and driving greater participation through sport.”
The invitational is expected to bring together a cross section of professionals and reflect how sport is increasingly being used as a shared space for leadership, interaction, and community building.
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