Pickleball’s rapid growth across Asia is continuing to reshape the region’s sporting landscape, with Malaysia becoming one of the latest countries investing heavily in large-scale competitive events. The upcoming Malaysia Open Pickleball Championship will offer a total prize pool exceeding RM100,000 when the tournament takes place from June 5 to 7 at Tomaz Pickleball Club.
Hosted by Alliance Bank, the three-day tournament will run daily from 8am to 11pm and feature multiple divisions ranging from junior categories to advanced open-level competition.
The event reflects pickleball’s growing popularity in Malaysia, where participation numbers, organized tournaments and sponsorship involvement have expanded rapidly over the past two years.
The championship will include Junior, Novice, Intermediate, Open and Team divisions, with categories covering singles, doubles and mixed doubles competition.
Junior players will compete in Boys’ Singles and Open Gender Doubles, while adult categories will feature men’s, women’s and mixed doubles formats across different skill levels.
The Open division will additionally include a 35+ category along with a mixed doubles section for players aged 50 and above.
One of the tournament’s major attractions will be the Team event, where squads consisting of eight players will compete across men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles categories.
The team competition carries the tournament’s largest prize purse, with winners set to receive RM30,000 along with sponsor vouchers.
Entry fees vary by category, starting at RM100 for Junior Singles and rising to RM2,500 for the Team division.
Tournament organizers have also confirmed that all participants will receive official DUPR ratings from the competition, allowing results to contribute toward internationally recognized pickleball rankings.
DUPR, or Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating, has increasingly become one of the sport’s most important ranking systems globally as tournaments across Asia, Europe and North America move toward more structured competitive standards.
Prize money will be distributed across all divisions, with Open doubles champions receiving RM4,000 alongside JOOLA competition paddles, while novice and intermediate winners will also receive equipment and sponsor rewards.
The event follows Alliance Bank’s earlier involvement in pickleball after sponsoring the KL Open Pickleball Championship in 2025.
Malaysia has emerged as one of Southeast Asia’s more active pickleball markets in recent years, with clubs, federations and private organizers rapidly expanding tournament structures across multiple states.
The increasing presence of sponsorships, prize pools and internationally recognized ranking systems also highlights how pickleball is gradually transitioning from a recreational activity into a more structured professional sport across the region.
