Malaysian Star Athilla Azhar Gets Reality Check in Panas Malaysia Cup 2025 But Sees Progress Nonetheless
Athilla Miasara Azizul Azhar is Malaysia’s highest-rated women’s player with a DUPR rating 4.323 in singles and 4.799 in doubles. But she got a harsh reality check of sorts at the recently concluded Panas Malaysia Cup 2025 that featured top pros from the PPA Tour in the US, including Anna Bright and Kaitlyn Christian in the women’s side of the action.
That’s because Azhar and her partners—Japan’s Mayu Ito in Women’s Doubles and Willy Chung in Mixed Doubles—couldn’t even crack the top eight, with Azhar and Ito losing in the Round of 16 in Women’s Doubles and Azhar and Chung faltering in the very first round in Mixed Doubles.
Athilla Azhar Faces World-Class Competition
To be fair, Azhar and her partners lost to some of pickleball’s very best: Danni-Elle Townsend and Eric Oncins (11-2, 11-2) in Mixed Doubles and Roos Van Reek and Anna Bright (11-0, 11-1) in Women’s Doubles. Afterwards, the Malaysian pickler admitted that Bright and company were simply at “a high level” and that playing against them was “something special.”
“I felt nervous because it was Anna Bright. Everyone knows her, and she’s in the world’s top five, but it was an honour to play against her and Roos,” Azhar said. “I felt good, but the way they play is very different from what I’ve experienced before. I’ve never faced someone at such a high level. I just had fun. We know the level is big, it’s different, especially because in Asia we are only just starting out. To play against her is something special.”
Losses, Yes, But Also Progress
Indeed, Asian pickleball players are behind their US-based counterparts, in part because the sport has been booming in the region only in recent years. Azhar herself picked up pickleball only in December 2023, and yet here she was testing her skills against world-class competition as Malaysia’s top-rated women’s player. And she’s just grateful for the opportunity.
“When I went to the US a few months ago, I didn’t get to play against players like this. Having them come here and getting the chance to face them was a great learning experience,” said the former tennis player-turned-pickler. “Even though the score looked one-sided, we had some good rallies and some good shots. If it was before, I don’t think I could have managed that.”
In other words, Azhar is making progress, and her jousts with Bright and Van Reek in Women’s Doubles and against Townsend and Oncins in Mixed Doubles highlighted how far she’s come in the sport she’s been playing for a little less than two years now.
“I played a few tournaments and won. Then in May last year I competed in an international event in Vietnam and won the intermediate category,” Azhar said, reflecting on her pickleball journey thus far. “That was when I realised I could go further, because with my tennis background, it was easier to adapt. After that, it all just took off. Now I’m the highest DUPR (women) in Malaysia.”
Athilla Miasara Azizul Azhar has gone far all right, and it looks like she can go even further—her setbacks at the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025 notwithstanding.
The Kuala Lumpur-born Azhar will next compete at the MB Vietnam Cup in Da Nang, which will take place from 30 September to 4 October 2025.
