Dreams in Motion - Paddle in Action 2025 Vibha FutureTech Pickleball tournament
Innovation is the hallmark of Vibha - in its fundraising efforts and in its core mission of making a difference in the lives of children by starting STEM LAB at the International Community School in Atlanta and introducing motivational models for improving learning levels in the rural government schools in India ! Having successfully organized Vibha Cricket and Vibha DreamMile for more than 26 years, Vibha in Atlanta has taken up the latest craze in the country - Pickleball !! Vibha organized the inaugural FutureTech Vibha Pickleball tournament with a bang with 200 players participating in it, making it one of the best tournaments in the town !! The huge rolling trophies for the winners in different categories made a statement that this is the tournament to watch for the next 26 years !!
Vibha joined hands with Atlanta Pickleball Alliance (APA) to organize the tournament. "No other game connects players with each other like Pickleball. With APA's commitment to giving back to community, partnering with Vibha on it's social cause was a natural partnership for the game and the bigger purpose of supporting the education of underprivileged children", said Sunil Punathil, the President of APA and USA Pickleball Ambassador for Gwinnett and Forsyth county.
As soon as the event started on the morning of the saturday, May 17th, the volunteers faced the challenge of pouring rain for an hour that made the courts ineligible for play. The spirit of Vibha volunteers met the challenge head on and squeezed the water out of all the twelve courts, wiped them and aired them with hand-blowers and made the courts ready in one hour ! Taking the two hour delay in stride, the sporting spirit of the players was on full display for the rest of the day and the Mens and Womens Doubles championships in two brackets - 2.5-3.5 and 3.5 and up - were finished in time !
Anish Sannareddy and Pareen Sharma overcame a tough challenge from the pair of Goutham Goli and Ravi Surapaneni in the Finals to win the Men 2-5-3.5 bracket. Lee Hering and Rob Paterick bagged the third place. In the 3.5 and up category, Parth Vora and Umesh Kumar lifted the rolling trophy by defeating Mallikarjuna Murali and Sampth Kumar in the finals, while Mohandas Sundareswaran and Vishnu Venugopalan won the Bronze match. The Women Doubles 2.5-3.5 bracket was won by Alexia Randall and Christin Dillard defeating Supriya Surendra and Bhumika Ashray, while Mireia Acebo and Jovana Paunovic bagged the Bronze. The rolling trophy for the Women 3.5 and up was lifted by Kelly Brown and Anjana Gopan defeating Neetu Das and Anusha Davuluri in the finals and Angelina Nguyen and Subavinodhini Marimuthu took the third place.
Ramesh Maturu, President and Co-Founder of Pyramid Consulting gave away the prizes and talked about their partnership with Vibha since 2001 and wished for the success of Vibha Pickleball tournament for many years to come. Goutham Goli, CEO and Founder of Rapid ID Venture Capital also talked about his long association with Vibha Cricket, and Vibha DreamMile and reinforced his commitment to the cause of Vibha and appreciated all the hard work put in by volunteers of Vibha to make this event a huge success.
The volunteers of Vibha were tested again on the Sunday morning with early showers and the entire effort of the previous day to get the courts ready for play was repeated by them with their trademark spirit of volunteerism. Once the courts were ready, the tournaments for the Mixed Doubles and the Juniors followed without interruption. The most enthralling match of the tournament was the finals of the Mixed Doubles in the 3.5 and up category. Having lost the first set, the pair of Angelina Nguyen and Hien Ta made a spirited comeback and defeated the pair of Anjana Gopan and Vishwa Rajan in the next 2 sets, with the third set going all the way to 11-9. Erika Thompkins and Umesh Kumar won the Bronze match in the same category. Neetu Das and Ricoh Das won the finals in the Mixed Doubles 2.5-3.5 category over Sadaf Kalantari and David Holroyd, while Jasud Shah and Fawwaz Masilhuddin took the third place.
Aadit Ochani, a third grade student at age 9, was the star attraction at the tournament! Being considered a child prodigy in the Pickleball circuit - with two major sponsors to his credit already - he was a treat to watch as he volleyed with his forehand, sliced with his backhand and quick action at the net. With his partner Kevin Phan, he easily defeated all his opponents in the Junior Tournament to win the first place. Ramesh Mylapuram and Sudith Mannuru won the Silver and the pair of Adrith Iyer and Kumar Chennoju won the Bronze.
Krish Prabhu, CEO of Emergys, a portfolio company of FutureTech, presented the rolling trophy and the awards in all categories on Sunday. He echoed the commitment of Sravan vellanki, the President of FutureTech with Vibha in all its fundraising efforts and thanked all the players for their participation. "The Vibha Pickleball is more than just a game, it is a celebration of community spirit and compassion. As the event lead, I was inspired by the incredible energy and support from players, volunteers, and partners who came together for the cause of Vibha", said Pankaj Zanke, the event coordinator for this tournament. Funds raised from this event will be supporting the education projects in India. For a full list of projects supported by Vibha in India and USA, please visit www.vibha.org. Excited with the huge success of this tournament, the volunteers of Vibha are already making plans for the 27th Annual DreamMile 2025, to be held on 14th September ! Please visit www.dreammile.org/atlanta to enjoy the "fun" in fund-raising !!
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