Colleges in Patna would have their first brush with an American sport, pickleball.

The Bihar Pickleball Association is approaching different city colleges to provide students training facilities for this game on their campuses.

Magadh Mahila College would be the first institute where the game would be introduced. At present, pickleball is not played in any college of Patna.

Shyam Jha, a member of Bihar Pickleball Association, said: “Pickleball is an interesting racquet sport that combines elements of badminton, tennis and table tennis but is played on a court with the same dimensions as a doubles badminton court.

“The game is played with a hard paddle and a waffle ball, making the technique required for pickle ball different than other similar sports, which is played in double and singles format. The sport is also known as mini tennis, which is ideal for fitness and eye co-ordination. It can be played both outdoor and indoor.”

Gauri Shankar, the treasurer of Bihar Pickleball Association, said: “We would launch the sport in Magadh Mahila College. We are also in talks with other colleges. We have decided to bring trainers from Mumbai because Patna lacks experts.”

He added that the idea to introduce the sport in colleges cropped in his mind seven months ago when he was participating in a national seminar on pickleball.

“There, I got to know about this interesting game. I wanted to share this information with my people. I was lucky to be trained by the members of All India Pickleball Association. Later, I formed Bihar Pickleball Association with Shyam Jha and Rajkumar Nirala and also got Bihar Pickleball Association affiliated with the All India Pickleball Association. Seven months have passed since the formation of our association. But we have not been able to do anything big to spread awareness about the sport. We hope to make it popular soon and players from the state would go to take part in international tournaments of this game,” said Shankar.

Mastering pickleball can open new job avenues for people. Shankar said: “He/she can opt it as a career and can make a lot of money by playing in international tournaments.”