Hong Kong Open Pickleball Championships 2020 Recap

Although delayed for one year, The Hong Kong Open Pickleball Championship 2020 has finally came to an end. There has been number of challenges that we have overcome.

Due to the looming pandemic and government restrictions to curb with the virus, we have experienced a lot of challenges in finding a quality venue for Pickleball in Hong Kong. We have experienced some rejections from various clubs as the tournament can easily be a means to spread the virus, which is one of the major concerns for a lot of clubs in Hong Kong.

Lack of pickleball courts in Hong Kong is one of the challenges we face as an organizer in Hong Kong. Very often we are required to convert a badminton or tennis court to a pickleball court by taping the court ourselves. We hosted the tournament in Hong Kong YMCA in Wu Kai Sha which we taped the entire court ourselves (thanks to GC Union Team!). It took more time for us to prepare and it is no easy task.

Unexpected weather conditions also caused a lot of disruptions and delays for the tournament. On the final day of the tournament, we had 5 outdoor courts and 3 indoor courts. However, it rained and we were forced to postponed the remaining matches to another day which is quite costly for us. In the end, we are very grateful to attract various sponsors and prize money.

We are very grateful to overcome all the above challenges and the first pickleball tournament in Hong Kong turned out to be very successful. All pickleball groups in Hong Kong participated in the event and we managed to unite a lot of pickleball players in Hong Kong.

Venise Chan, the Organizer and Tournament Director would like to thank all the pickleball teams in Hong Kong who have assisted in the success of the event.

She hoped that this tournament would not only help promote pickleball in Hong Kong but it would unite all the different Hong Kong pickleball players/groups to share the same goal that Hong Kong will be a major location in the Asia circuit in the future. Also, it is important to remember the love for the sport and to just enjoy the game, as Venise’s signature Baddle racket “For the Love of the Game” hoped to remind people.