Singapore Hosts EPIC World Championship, Amateur Pickleball Goes Global

Singapore’s Kallang Sports Hub became a showcase for where amateur pickleball is heading: bigger, more international and increasingly built around travel as much as competition. The EPIC World Championship ran from April 30 through May 3 at the Kallang Tennis Hub precinct near the National Stadium, bringing together DUPR 3.0 to 5.0 players from around the world under a format that was pitched as the pinnacle of amateur play.

The event was backed by the Singapore Tourism Board and powered by DUPR, a combination that gave the tournament a different feel from a standard bracket weekend. EPIC’s tournament page said the prize purse started at US$50,000 and increased with every new registration, while the entry fee was listed at US$222 per player. Players were guaranteed at least three matches in each event, along with a gift bag valued at more than $250 that included branded gear and sponsor items.

That pricing and packaging mattered because the event was built to sell more than medals. Organizers framed it as a pickleball getaway, with music, food, drinks, entertainment, clinics and award ceremonies folded into the schedule. Local tourism discounts were part of the offer too, and the setting in Singapore was presented as a sports holiday in a tropical, world-class city. For U.S. players weighing the cost of an international trip, that kind of all-in experience is becoming a stronger draw than a simple weekend draw sheet.

The scale points to a broader shift in the sport. Coverage of the launch said Singapore Tourism Board’s involvement was its first official support for an international pickleball event and tied it to a three-year partnership. Organizers also described the championship as the first-ever EPIC World Championship. Before play began, expectations were high enough that well over a thousand players were projected to compete, underscoring how quickly a destination event can turn into a global amateur magnet.

The timing also carried a local edge. Singapore’s pickleball boom has already created court-booking pressure and noise complaints, with the Municipal Services Office receiving 701 pickleball noise complaints in HDB estates from January 2024 to August 2025. At least four town councils imposed restrictions after residents complained. Against that backdrop, EPIC looked less like a routine tournament and more like an attempt to channel fast-growing demand into a managed, tourism-driven showcase. The message was clear: amateur pickleball is no longer just filling community courts. It is starting to look like a travel category of its own.