Brands
Mumbai to host global pickleball league season two and grand slam 2025
MUMBAI: Mumbai will host season two of the Global Sports Pickleball Pro and Challenger League alongside the Grand Slam 2025 from December 16 to 23, as the sport sharpens its competitive footprint in India.
The week-long tournament at the Andheri sports complex will feature leading international players, top Indian talent, emerging athletes and 10 team owners, underlining India’s growing appeal as a destination for elite pickleball.
Proceedings will open with a grand ceremony on December 16 at 5 pm, to be broadcast live on Zee5, Zee Café and &flix. The event will include the unveiling of the 2025 trophy and an exhibition match featuring select marquee players.
Global Sports Pickleball has partnered with Zee5 for nationwide broadcast coverage. The Grand Slam matches will be streamed exclusively on Zee5 from 9 am to 12 pm, while the Pro and Challenger League fixtures will air daily from 3 pm to 10 pm across Zee5, Zee Café and &flix.
“The 2025 season brings an exciting mix of players, from Asia’s no. 1 Quang Duong to 15-year-old sensation Arjun Singh and experienced competitors such as Megan Fudge,” said Hemal Jain, chief designer – pickleball growth, global sports pickleball. “Indian players competing alongside the world’s best will accelerate the sport’s development in the country.”
With international stars, structured formats and expanded television and digital reach, the Global Sports Pickleball League and Grand Slam 2025 are positioned as one of India’s most ambitious pickleball showcases to date.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
