Facolos Joins the Big Leagues with Announcement of Dual Certification
If you’re a serious pickler, chances are you’re aware of USAPA as being the primary body certifying paddles as tournament-approved. It’s the reason most tournaments insist you use a USAPA-certified paddle. That being the case, it can be incredibly difficult to find a paddle with “IPF certified” printed on it, whilst the “USAPA-certified” stamp of approval is far more common.
Well, things might be a-changing in the world of paddle certification.
Just a month after JOOLA’s power move of announcing dual certification, it appears Facolos is following suit. On Thursday, Facolos co-founder Jessica Vo took to Facebook to announced that Facolos has gone PRO and is now rocking dual international certifications. The historic Facolos paddle in this case is the Facolos EliteX.
“We did it! Facolos goes PRO—with dual international certifications,” Vo wrote on Facebook. “We’re beyond proud to announce that our Facolos EliteX Pro has officially received both USAPA and UPA-A 2025 certifications—making it the first pickleball paddle from Vietnam to be internationally recognized for professional play.”
Vo added in her post that the Facolos EliteX has successfully passed both the USAPA standards for tournament play and the UPA-A 2025 rigorous testing—including RPM, PEF, and artificial break-in protocols. She also announced that after months of innovation, testing, and fine-tuning, Facolos paddles were able to meet the toughest international standards:
- RPM testing
- Performance Enhancement Factor (PEF) evaluation
- Artificial break-in simulations
- And a whole lot of love and sweat behind every detail
All this means the Facolos EliteX meets all technical standards required for it to be used n the world’s top professional tournaments such as the PPA and MLP. It should be noted that this is a permanent certification, not a temporary one.
“This is just the beginning. From Vietnam to the world—let’s play pro, let’s play Facolos,” Vo concluded.
