PPA Tour Asia - Panas Malaysia Open 2025: What We Saw, Learned, and Loved from Landmark Tournament
The inaugural PPA Asia Tour event—the Panas Malaysia Open 2025—took place last weekend in Kuala Lumpur. And despite it not being the best organised event we have ever seen in Malaysia, the pro players delivered when it came to amazing competition and on-court battles.
Here are PNA’s top highlights from the PPA’s first dip into Asia:
1. Pini Lee: The Quiet and Almost Unnoticed Triple Crown Queen
There was only one Triple Crown winner at the inaugural PPA tournament in Asia, and it happened before we reached Super Sunday. It also happened off the show courts. But Pini Lee is proving herself to be Asia’s Leading Lady of Pickleball.
Competing in the over-50s category, Pini is already the undisputed no. 1 seniors player in the womens’s division here in Asia. She regularly competes and wins in open category doubles against up-and-coming 19- and 20-something players, but when it comes to 50+, Pini is an inspiration to anyone taking up the sport.
She quietly and determinedly goes about her business in tournaments and is happy to give advice to anyone who may ask. Then, when she gets on the court in any seniors division, she owns it.
It is fitting that Pini, who is already known and proven across the Asian pickleball scene, was able to dominate the seniors category at this PPA event.
At the Panas Malaysia Open 2025, Pini first won the ladies’ 50+ singles crown, beating Tze Hoh in the final, 11-3, 11-8. Then, she took the the ladies’ 50+ doubles title with partner Elizabeth Wilcox, winning 11-4, 11-9 against Foo Pin and Lay Yong Ong.
Finally, Pini, together with long-time partner Jih Shian Yeo, took the mixed doubles crown, 11-0, 11-2, against the duo of Elizabeth Wilcox and Rajan Khemlyani.
Pini didn’t make the main headlines, but for many Asia pickleball fans, she is one of the star attractions.
2. Men’s Singles Semifinal: Giang Trinh and Hong Kit Wong Produce an Epic Battle
Quite simply, this was an epic battle, with Hong Kit Wong starting off in dominating fashion, but slowly being pegged back by Vietnam’s Giang Trinh.
The game was unique for men’s singles because both players chose not to rely on power and aggression alone. Instead, the two opted for placement, finesse, and a soft game. They produced a match that ebbed and flowed and had the crowd on the edge of their seats for many of the points.
Both players literally gave their all, with Hong Kit collapsing due to exhaustion as the final point went in favour of his opponent, who, equally exhausted, celebrated by crossing the net and laying down to hug the man he had just beaten via scores of 5-11, 11-7, 11-7. Trinh, who surged from the qualification draw and onto the final, went on to defeat India’s Vanshik Kapadia, 12‑10, 11‑7, to become Vietnam’s first PPA Tour Asia men’s singles champ and deny Kapadia a Triple Crown.
The level of play in Asia is high—still some way to go to beat their US counterparts at PPA stateside—but the ferocity of competition in this match was second to none.
3. Women’s Singles Final: Yufei Long Is Made of Strong Stuff
Anyone thinking that the ferocity of competition shown by the men in the singles semifinal (see above) could not be matched any time soon was quickly proven wrong. Yufei Long stepped into the ladies’ finals against Nicola Schoeman from Australia, and the ladies put on a battle that surpassed any match we witnessed at this inaugural PPA Asia Tour event.
Once you strip away ability, technique, and court IQ, pickleball (like any other sport) becomes about mental strength and will to win—and never will you see a better example of this than Yufei’s comeback against Nicola.
At one set down and 10-8 down, facing championship point against her, Yufei staged a comeback of epic proportions. She upped her game, digging super deep to longer drives and wider angles and forced her way to the net. Sometimes breaking with the emotion between points, Yufei held herself together to come back and take the second frame, then hang on in a battle of fitness and fortitude to prevail and take the championship point in game three.
After such a gutsy performance from Australia’s Schoeman, we all felt for her—but for Yufei, it was a fairy-tale ending for the Asia trailblazer to finish up a gold medallist at this first-ever Asia PPA Tour event.
4. Jimmy Liong on the Right Track for Malaysia
With this first event taking place in Kuala Lumpur, we were interested to see how the Malaysia pros would step up. Whilst the pickleball participation boom is nothing short of remarkable in Malaysia, the stark reality is that Malaysian professionals still have some way to go before they stack up against some of Asia’s elite.
So, we were pleased to see that one Malaysian (also a PPA trailblazer), Jimmy Liong, has returned from the US and is now mixing it up with the cream of Asia’s talent. Jimmy is on the right track, showing he can now match up well with the top singles players in Asia. He made his way to the semis in the men’s singles but just came up short of a podium position. However, in doing so, he showed he has risen to Asia’s elite level—and perhaps there is a PPA Asia medal with his name on it in the future.
And if Jimmy needed any incentive to hit those heights, he doesn’t need to look far for motivation, as his father, Liong, managed to bag bronze in the men’s over-50 singles at the same event. So, if gene pool is anything to go by, Malaysia won’t have to wait long for its first PPA medal
Big Winners of the Inaugural PPA Asia Tour Event
The main winners of the inaugural PPA Asia Tour event held in Malaysia are as follows:
- Men’s Doubles: Kapadia and Harsh Mehta claimed gold.
- Mixed Doubles: Kapadia and Schoeman won the title.
- Women’s Doubles: Jamie Wei and Xiao Yi Wang‑Beckvall beat Long and Kwon Mihae for the championship.
- Men’s Singles: Trinh wins improbable gold.
- Women’s Singles: Yufei proves she belongs with golden finish.
- Triple Crown: Pini Lee
