Brad Rantayy
MIRI, Jan 27: A total of 12 teams took part in the recently concluded Pickleball Novice Challenge on Jan 22, held at Miri Tennis Complex.
A duo partner, Mahammed Faridz and Zachary Macchesney won the gold.
Meanwhile, Sulibtisam Sulaiman and Winny Sia bagged the silver medal while Sheena Hayani Narawi and Ahmed Rizwan took third place.
For those who haven’t heard of the sport, pickleball is a sport that combines several elements of badminton, table tennis and tennis, where players attempt to score points using paddles in a court similar to a badminton court.
The event was organised as part of the continuation of the recent Free Pickleball Workshop organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Miri Division which was held on Dec 11, last year with a total of 45 registered participants.
During the free workshop, new players were given two hours of pickleball fundamentals.
Weekly pickleball practice and sessions were then arranged for the players to build up their techniques and skills prior to the challenge.
The next free workshop will be held in March 2022.
A similar programme development will be drafted out to allow new players to start picking up the sport and later join the competition stage.
The sport was invented in 1965 in America, and is now played in more than 69 countries.
In Malaysia, the Malaysia Pickleball Association (MPA) is the national body.
The sport was first started in Sarawak and later expanded to Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Sabah.
Penang, Melacca and Pahang are going to start pickleball by the first half of 2022.
The future tournaments will be the GCM Pickleball Tournament, Miri Open and the Sarawak Interdivision.
In Sarawak, the sport is falls under the Sarawak Pickleball Association.
Miri, which is the birthplace of Pickleball Malaysia has around 80-100 players playing pickleball during the weekends.
The current venues for pickleball are the Gymkhana Club Miri, Miri Tennis Complex, Piasau Boat Club, Kelab Rekreasi Petroliam(KRP), Champion Pickleball Court and Southlake Clubhouse.
For more information about the sport and how to join the practice sessions, please contact Farrell Choo at 017-8671203. — DayakDaily
