In mid-May 2025, pickleball enthusiasts in Gia Lai were extremely excited to welcome the first Gia Lai Open Pickleball Tournament 2025 for the L'amant Café Cup held at City Mountain Pickleball and Khai Hung Pickleball (Pleiku City). The tournament attracted more than 500 famous players from all over the country and internationally, such as: Ly Hoang Nam, Trinh Linh Giang, Jack Wong, Kenta Miyoshi, Andrew Anh Pham, Mak Mille... along with hundreds of spectators watching and cheering.
Mr. Dao Anh Tan - owner of City Mountain Pickleball (300 Nguyen Van Cu, Pleiku City) shared: "With 9 international standard training courts, City Mountain Pickleball is honored to accompany the tournament. Besides the exciting, eye-catching, highly professional matches from famous athletes, the audience is very excited to watch the training courts here."
Previously, Gia Lai has organized the Gia Lai City Trail - Dream of the Great Forest race twice (the first time in 2023 and the second time in 2024). It is a journey to conquer routes with diverse terrain, passing through many scenic spots in Pleiku City and Chu Pah District with many different distances. In particular, in season 2, the Organizing Committee of the race organized an additional KIDS distance (2 km) for free for children to encourage the running movement among young people. The tournament attracted up to 6,000 athletes from inside and outside the province to register to participate. In addition, season 2 of Gia Lai City Trail was held right during the Wild Sunflower Week, so it also attracted thousands of spectators to both watch, cheer, and travel to see wild sunflowers, visit and experience activities imbued with the cultural identity of ethnic minorities here.
In addition to the new sports and tournaments that have recently developed strongly in Gia Lai such as cross-country, pickleball, golf, kickboxing, dance sports..., street football is still a sport that receives a lot of attention from "sports people". Mini football clubs in the area still regularly organize tournaments to create a playground for amateur football lovers, contributing to promoting the sports training movement in the mountain town. Currently, the 2025 Bia Saigon Dragon Cup National 7-a-side Football Championship in the Central Highlands region has officially kicked off on June 7 at the football field of the Provincial Youth Activity Center (Pleiku City) with the participation of more than 120 players from 6 teams inside and outside the province and the cheers of hundreds of spectators who love this king sport.
The recent sporting events in the province show that Gia Lai's sports economy is starting to develop, as large and small restaurants are crowded with customers, hotels are fully booked, and many tours are organized...
The owner of City Mountain Pickleball said: "When building City Mountain Pickleball, I received technical advice from experts from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Currently, with a cluster of 9 international standard practice courts with a total area of about 2,000 m2 and a construction investment of up to tens of billions of VND (excluding land fund), City Mountain Pickleball is highly appreciated by pickleball players."
According to Mr. Tan, after a number of pickleball-related activities held at the City Mountain Pickleball field, many of his friends and acquaintances who are businessmen in big cities invited their friends and partners to return to the mountain town to play sports and discuss business. “I think that the development of sports is not simply in the field of competition but also attracts many athletes and spectators from all over. Other related services are "attracted" such as accommodation, restaurants, tourism, clothing stores, sports accessories”.
Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam - Director of Tam Nguyen Event and Sports Solutions Company Limited (Hoi Phu Ward, Pleiku City) said: “In recent years, the sports movement in the province has developed quite vigorously. Fortunately, our company has participated in organizing sports events held in the province such as marathons, mini football, sports tournaments in schools... In addition to organizing sports-related events, Tam Nguyen Company has also developed the business of costumes and accessories and has also been trusted and chosen by partners. From races across many scenic spots, or conquering the steep hills and forests that Gia Lai organizes, runners across the country have begun to be interested in the majestic nature in Gia Lai. Seizing the opportunity, we began to invest in activities in the field of experiential tourism, eco-tourism...".
Pleiku city in particular, Gia Lai in general, is orienting towards green development, a plateau for health; at the same time, the province also orients tourism as one of the pillars for development. Therefore, sports economy is one of the areas that the province needs to promote to achieve that goal.
“For the sports economy to develop, building a favorable legal environment, investing in infrastructure and linking with tourism and cultural activities is important. Therefore, I hope that the local government will accompany, support and have preferential mechanisms related to the sports sector, such as sports loans, land funds for sports, along with quick administrative procedures. Occasionally, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism can invite famous athletes in different sports to share their experiences with athletes in Gia Lai, this will create attraction and great motivation for Gia Lai sports to develop” - the owner of City Mountain Pickleball expressed.
Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/danh-thuc-tiem-nang-phat-trien-kinh-te-the-thao-post327098.html
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