Renowned pickleball coach Darren Ho and his Yangshan AG team ruled the inaugural National Chinese Team Championships held in Yangshan, China. Ho played with Jaime Wong and eight other picklers from Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Chongqing, and together they won the grand prize for the tournament.
The National Chinese Team Championships was held for two days and featured 32 teams that all battled to reign supreme in the tournament’s first-ever staging.
“It is my utmost pleasure to be invited to play in this tournament as it demonstrates the hospitality of my Chinese friends and also how the standard of Pickleball in China has truly picked up over the past year,” said Darren Ho, Head Coach at Pickleball Global Academy.
Ho added he did not expect his team to win but is nonetheless pleased that they banded together to emerge victorious in a field loaded with so much talent from China.
“While we did not expect to win, we truly rallied together as a team, supported each other and stayed by the common belief that Pickleball should be played first and foremost with a happy and free state of mind rather than focusing too much on results,” he further said. “Everyone in this tournament has done tremendously well and I congratulate everyone for their performances. Some of my best memories of this competition would be meeting new friends, sharing Pickleball philosophies and appreciating the amazing landscape that Yangshan has to offer.”
After leading his team to the victory, Ho has now added to his list of accolades, which also include the PPA 35+ 5.0 gold medal he won earlier this year.
