Trinh Linh Giang won the Asian championship, creating a historical milestone for Vietnamese Pickleball

(NLDO) - Trinh Linh Giang has just made history with the men's singles championship at the Panas Malaysia Open 2025, part of the PPA Tour Asia system.

Pickleball Vietnam has just set a historic milestone when Trinh Linh Giang (28 years old) excellently won the championship in the professional men's singles (Pro) at Panas Malaysia Open 2025 - the opening tournament of the PPA Tour Asia system, held for the first time in Asia.

The tournament took place from July 3 to 6 in Malaysia, gathering nearly 500 athletes from leading countries such as Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand, Australia... Vietnam had 5 players participating in the men's singles event, but only Linh Giang passed the qualifying round and created a surprise with a convincing championship.

In the men's singles final on the afternoon of July 6, Linh Giang faced Indian player Vanshik Kapadia and started impressively, leading 2-0. Despite being tied at 10-10, he still maintains his composure, scoring 2 consecutive points to win the first set 12-10.

In the second set, despite being behind, the 1997-born player accelerated at the right time, scoring 4 consecutive points to lead 10-6 and ending the match with an 11-7 victory.

Before that, Linh Giang had a dramatic semi-final match against Jack Wong (Hong Kong), also a former professional tennis player who switched to pickleball in 2024.

Losing the first set 5-11, he quickly equalized to 11-7. In the deciding set, despite being down 3-5 then 4-7 and the match being temporarily interrupted due to his opponent's injury, Linh Giang still made a spectacular comeback with a series of 7 consecutive points, winning 11-7 and reaching the final.

A former member of the national tennis team, Linh Giang switched to pickleball in 2024 and quickly asserted his position through a series of domestic titles. With his victory at the Panas Malaysia Open, he became the first Vietnamese tennis player to win a tournament in the professional PPA Tour Asia system.

Vietnam won two championships in the tournament.

At this tournament, Vietnam pickleball also won another gold medal in the U18 men's doubles event thanks to the pair Tong Nhat Minh - Le Xuan Duc (both 17 years old), showing the strong development potential of this young sport in Vietnam.

After the Malaysia leg, PPA Tour Asia 2025 will continue the series of tournaments under PPA Tour Asia this summer-autumn, respectively in China and Japan, including: Hong Kong Open (August 21-24), Sansan Fukuoka Open (August 26-31), China Slam (October 1-5) and Kuala Lumpur Cup (October 9-12).

Source: https://nld.com.vn/trinh-linh-giang-vo-dich-giai-chau-a-tao-cot-moc-lich-su-cho-pickleball-viet-nam-196250706222801261.htm