Brands
Stupa Sports expands global footprint with new partnerships across Asia, Europe
MUMBAI: Stupa Sports isn’t just raising the game, it’s smashing its way onto the world stage.
In a landmark leap for Indian sports technology, Stupa Sports has secured two major international partnerships, signalling its growing clout in the global sports ecosystem. The company has teamed up with Swiss Tennis as its official competition management partner for padel nationwide, while simultaneously entering professional pickleball as the exclusive data & technology partner for the Pickleball Champions League (PCL) Asia Finals 2025 in Shenzhen, China.
Both deals underscore the rising global demand for AI-powered, India-built sports technology, as federations look for smarter, more efficient ways to run tournaments, analyse performance, and engage fans.
Through its multi-year partnership with Swiss Tennis, Stupa will roll out a fully customised, white-labelled competition management ecosystem. This includes end-to-end tournament operations, rankings, licensing, league administration, payments, player dashboards and notifications: all designed to streamline padel management across Switzerland.
Swiss Tennis head of padel Matthieu Amgwerd, said the collaboration “opens a new chapter” in enhancing professionalism, transparency and growth of padel in the country.
Stupa’s global push continues through its exclusive deal with PCL Asia, where the company will power officiating, broadcast production and AI-led insights during the championship finals in Shenzhen from 3–7 December 2025.
At the heart of the deployment is Stupa Cast, the company’s flagship AI analytics engine, delivering real-time stats, advanced overlays and data-driven storytelling for every main-court match. This is reinforced by Stupa’s multi-angle decision review system, designed to bring fairness, accuracy and broadcast-level precision which features increasingly sought by federations worldwide.
Matches will also be streamed through Stupa’s high-definition multi-camera setup, complete with integrated graphics and sponsor-rich visuals to elevate fan experience globally.
PCL Asia co-founder Steve Kuhn, called the partnership “a milestone moment for pickleball in Asia,” praising the firm’s role in enhancing the sport’s competitive integrity and viewing standards.
Stupa Sports co-founder and COO Deepak Malik, described the pickleball entry as a “milestone moment,” adding that the finals would serve as a showcase for the sport’s “digitally-enhanced future”.
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
