By Sachit Subba • Other Sports • Aug 25, 2026 08:39 AM • 125 views
Nepal is travelling to Vietnam with seventeen names for the 2026 Pickleball World Cup in Da Nang, where sixty-four countries will compete from August 30 to September 6. The Pickleball Association of Nepal has confirmed the national team, and its growing ambitions in pickleball go with it.
Two squads are carrying the flag. The Open Category team enters the group stage alongside Australia, Belgium, and Kenya, a group that combines high athleticism with varied tactics. The Masters Category side, designed for the sport's more senior players, faces South Africa, India, and Germany. Neither group offers an easy route through, and neither side expected one.
Selection was no easy matter. The selection committee considered technical ability and physical fitness, then weighed the player's international experience and recent match performance before arriving at the final list. This method rewards players who have already faced off on larger courts, not just those who show promise on paper.
The Open Category list shows Nepal's current depth. The players are Kiran Khanal, Diksha Rana, Jackson Subedi, Dawa Sonam Sherpa, Iku Ale Thapa, Radheshyam Machamasi, Sanjil Kansakar, Mahesh Sharma, Sandesh Shrestha, Ugen Sherpa, and Umid Sherpa. On the Masters side, six players represent the seniors. They are Fatte Bahadur Khadka, Dilbhushan Pathak, Harsha Sagar Tuladhar, Manik Ratna Shakya, Sharmila KC, and Pratima Pradhan.
Pickleball's presence matters beyond this tournament because of the position it now holds in Nepal. It has moved from a niche curiosity to visible play in very different parts of the country, from the lowlands of Jhapa in the east to the highlands of Jumla in the west. That spread is largely due to the low cost of equipment and the minimal infrastructure it requires; unlike most competitive sports, pickleball asks much less of a community, which matters in a nation where terrain and resources vary greatly from one district to another.
The association is not viewing Da Nang as an isolated case; its 'From School to Olympic' programme is meant to strengthen the talent pipeline beneath this squad by getting young players into organised training before they are chosen for international teams. In this way, today's rally in the schoolyard becomes tomorrow's qualification for the national team.
Saurav Bhandari, the association president, expressed optimism, citing the squad's thorough preparation and the discipline they have displayed in training camps. He believes that the team will give a strong performance on the world stage.
For now, the group matches against Australia, Belgium, Kenya, South Africa, India, and Germany will determine how far that optimism extends. Whatever the results, both teams enter the Vietnamese courts with more than personal ambitions—they are making a full-scale effort to establish Nepali pickleball on the international stage.
