There’s a reason Vietnam’s Quang Duong made it to the very top tier of pro pickleball: He really is a phenomenal player. And he proved that unequivocally in a local tournament held over the weekend in Quang Ninh.
Already a few months removed from playing at the highest levels of the sport, Quang Duong hardly missed a beat, winning two gold medals—one in Men’s Doubles, another in Mixed Doubles—handily with different partners. First, Duong teamed up with Amanda Hendry to win gold in Mixed Doubles. Then, he and partner Casey Diamond blitzed the Men’s Doubles field to win the title.
Notably, Quang Duong’s teams beat pairs boasting Vietnam’s top players, including the duo of Trinh Linh Giang and Ly Hoang Nam in the semi-finals and the pair of Phuc Huynh and Tama Shimabukuro. Incidentally, Giang and Nam won silver and bronze medals, respectively, at Men’s Singles at the Hong Kong Open 2025, while Huynh won gold at the Vietnam Open recently. The Vietnamese stalwarts, however, proved no match against Duong and Casey.
Of course, it’s not like Duong’s partners in Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles were slouches. Hendry and Diamond are pretty good pickleball pros themselves, and they could probably win some serious hardware in the PPA Tour Asia if they competed in it. Then again, watching Duong, it’s clear that he really is a cut above Vietnam’s best at the regional level. The power, the technique, the speed and quickness, and the touch were all noticeably superior compared to the Giangs and the Huynhs and the Nams.
Indeed, Quang Duong looked like a man among boys in that local tournament in Quang Ninh. And it makes you wonder why he’s even competing there instead of halfway around the world in the US, where the very best of pickleball are playing at the highest levels.
He and his team are the only ones who know why.
