Hong Kong’s Inaugural Pickleball Tournament Won by 15-Year-Old Tennis Player

Pickleball’s popularity is international, as evidenced by the inaugural Hong Kong Open Pickleball Championships 2020 that took place last weekend. The tournament, hosted by Hong Kong women’s champion Venise Chan Wing-yau, drew 32 players and was held with the hope of promoting the sport in the area. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place last year, hence its 2020 title, but was delayed due to the pandemic.

All of the finalists in the tournament came from a tennis background, and the 15-year-old winner, Etienne Lee Kai-yuen, was no exception. Lee is considered a “teenage tennis sensation” and his skills in the sport obviously transferred well to pickleball. He remarked that he had only ever played pickleball twice prior to entering the tournament. His father, who also participated, noted that they had only just bought their paddles the morning of the event. Talk about talent!

Lee was excited to have won and encouraged other young people to start playing. He also mentioned that he finds pickleball to be more fun than his usual sport of choice, tennis. Tell us something we don’t know.