Altaf Merchant and Dave Weinbach recently finished as the runner-up team in the USA Pickleball National Championships in Indian Wells.
Merchant (Owensboro) and Weinbach (Wisconsin) lost the gold medal match against Rob Davidson (Utah) and Adam Stone (Texas) in the Mens’ 5.0 age 35-49 division. All four professional players are ranked in the top 25 in the pickleball global rankings.
“I got to the Final Four of this tournament last year,” Merchant said. “This year I wanted to get on the podium to hold the flag of Kentucky.”
Merchant and Weinbach entered the gold medal match having won eight tournaments in a row.
Merchant is sponsored by Onix, which is owned by Escalade Inc. headquartered in Evansville.
The bronze medal went the Duan Gingrich and Ryan Tefry, both from California.
