CelcomDigi launches RM1 million fund to upgrade Malaysia pickleball courts

Malaysia's pickleball boom just crossed into infrastructure money. CelcomDigi Berhad launched the CelcomDigi Pickleball Fund with up to RM1 million in phased support, and Pickle Mines at The Mines became the first court named for funding under the initiative.

The structure is unusually practical. Facilities with three or fewer courts can receive RM5,000, sites with four to six courts can get RM10,000, and larger venues with seven or more courts can receive up to RM15,000. The money can go toward court resurfacing, nets and hardware, fencing, seating, shaded zones, equipment and broader facility upgrades, a scope that targets the places where players feel quality every session.

CelcomDigi is rolling the program out through Arena CelcomDigi, and the application is open to new or existing court owners nationwide, including private facility owners, sports club operators and community-based operators. Applicants must submit owner details, court status, photos and supporting documents such as SSM registration and lease or ownership records, which makes the fund accessible to the neighborhood venues and residential associations where the sport has spread fastest. Company representative Chan May Ling framed pickleball as a sport that brings people together through social interaction and shared experience.

That matters because the Malaysia Pickleball Association says the sport already has more than 400,000 players, 472-plus venues, 74 tournaments and 500-plus certified coaches. When a sport reaches that kind of scale, the bottleneck is often not interest but playable space, and better courts can lower the barrier for casual players who are deciding whether to return after a first session.

The timing also fits a wider push. Selangor allocated RM1 million in its 2025 budget for pickleball development, and Malaysia hosted the first-ever WPC Grand Slam in Asia in July 2025 at The Pickle Grounds in Petaling Jaya, drawing more than 1,500 players from 20-plus countries and generating an estimated MYR 13 million tourism impact. Put together, those markers suggest Malaysia is trying to move from hosting events to building the kind of court network that keeps events, coaching and grassroots play growing at the same time.