Asians Surpassing Americans in Pickleball? It’s Possible, Says Hong Kong Pickleball Pioneer Venise Chan Wing-yau
Asians are built for this — pickleball, that is!
Such is the assessment of Venise Chan Wing-yau, a tennis great in Hong Kong who has turned to pickleball and is now helping the sport grow in the small Asian nation. And, so far, pickleball is making great inroads in Hong Kong, growing at a remarkable pace and looking poised for even more growth in the coming months and years.
Pickleball has become such a big deal in Hong Kong that the PPA Tour Asia chose it to be part of its inaugural season by way of the Hong Kong Open 2025—joining Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan and China as the first-ever hosts of the Asian tour. What’s more, a team of talented Hong Kongers made it all the way to the finals of the Pickleball World Cup in October, just missing out on a golden conquest after falling to an equally talented team of American picklers.
Chan Wing-yau isn’t the least bit surprised, both by the growth of pickleball in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong team’s Cinderella run in Florida. In fact, the founder of Asia Aces Pickleball Academy in Wong Chuk Hang in Hong Kong believes it could just be a matter of time before Hong Kong and the rest of Asia become a true pickleball powerhouse—on par with or even better than the US, the birthplace of the sport. Part of it, she says, is due to Asians’ innate talent in two other racket sports: table tennis and badminton.
“People would have seen that Asian countries can be good at this … and maybe one day better than the US,” Chan Wing-yau told the South China Morning Post. “Pickleball has elements of badminton and table tennis, and Asians are strong in those sports. We’re not super tall, but we’re quick, we have fast hands and control at the net.”
Chan Wing-yau, who was introduced to pickleball in 2019, might be on to something, and the signs are there. Aside from Hong Kong’s march to the Pickleball World Cup finals, Asia’s best also held their own against some of the world’s finest pickleball talent when they came over to add superstar power to the PPA Tour Asia.
But, for now, the Americans still rule the roost and are on top of the pickleball chain. But Asia is coming—and it’s coming full steam ahead.
