The Professional Pickleball Association Asian Tour finished off an action packed first season this past weekend in Hangzhou, China for the 2025 Vibrant Linping Hangzhou Open. This event had a $50k prize purse and a 1,000 point impact for both the Asian tour players and the smattering of US-based PPA pros who made the trip.
Click here for the PickleballTournaments.com home page for the event, and click here for the brackets.
Let’s do a quick recap of the results, highlighting the winners, the upsets, and the top Asian players who made waves.
Men’s Pro Singles Recap
Hoang Nam Ly, who has won five singles medals so far this year in PPA international events, went on an absolute tear in China to claim his first gold. He took out the top seed and No 2 ranked player in the world Federico Staksrud in the semis 7,10, then beat the current No. 1 ranked Men’s singles player on the Asian tour in Hong Kit Wong in the final. Along the way to the final Wong blasted Connor Garnett, the current No. 3 ranked player in the world, 3,4 in the quarters. These are significant results and the pickleball world should take note, especially as the PPA tour is beginning to sign Asia players to exclusive contracts going forward, which should bring some of these players to the US more often.
Women’s Pro Singles Recap
Sahra Dennehy won her third straight PPA International Women’s singles title, following on her titles in Melbourne in mid-November and in the Vietnam Cup in early October with a comprehensive win here in Hangzhou. She beat Chao Yi Wang 7,2 in the final to claim gold. Shenzhen’s Yufei Long salvaged the bronze for her 6th singles medal this season internationally.
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
Top seeds Federico Staksrud & Alix Truong survived an early scare against newly signed Luc Pham (and partner Connie Lee), ground out a semis win against fellow traveling PPA pro Connor Garnett (playing with Ting Chieh Wei), then beat the always-dangerous Eunggwon Kim (playing with Nok Yiu Tang) in the final for the gold. This gave Truong the double for the weekend.
Men’s Pro Doubles Recap
Hien Truong & Quan Do won an upset-filled draw, taking out the two leading US-based PPA pro teams along the way. They crushed Hovenier & Garnett 6,2 in the quarters, then iced out the Hawaiian teenage sensation Tama Shimabukoro (playing with fellow Hawaii resident Pryson Haas) 3,4 in the semis. In the final, the pair shocked the top seeds and PPA tour regulars Federiko Staksrud & Armaan Bhatia with a come-from-behind 3 game win. They become the first Vietnamese pair to win on tour this season. Truong, who has won three singles medals in PPA international events this season, adds his first doubles medal while Quan Do medals for the first time this year.
Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
Alix Troung, who has spent a ton of time in Vietnam lately playing the PPA asia tour, teamed with another top PPA pro with Asian ties in Chao Yi Wang to claim the Women’s doubles title in China. They topped Yufei Long & Sahra Dennehy in the semis, then topped another Australian pair in Sarah Burr & Jamie Hass in the final to win.
With this story published, the Medal Tracker is updated online. Next up for the PPA Asian tour? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, we’re done for the 2025 season, and I’ve yet to see any 2026 events announced. The first 2025 PPA Asia event wasn’t until June, but I’m guessing we’ll see events prior to that in 2026 for the very-popular tour in Southeast Asia.
Resources I rely on while covering the PPA International events:
– PPA Asia Home Page, their Facebook page, and Player Rankings
– PPA Australia Home Page, their Facebook page, and Player Rankings
– Pickleball Australia, an excellent source of information for all things PB down under
– Mydupr.com for DUPRs and player bios
– Medal Tracker XLS with all PPA Int’l medals on a separate tab
