Charles Yong storms back to win PickleSlam title, earns Singapore Open spot

Charles Yong turned a 9-5 deficit into the biggest result of his young career, rallying past Malaysia’s Timothy Foo 15-13 to win the pro men’s singles title at PickleSlam in Jurong Play Grounds and book his place at the Singapore Open.

That spot is the real prize. Yong’s victory at the PPA Asia 125 event sent him directly into the Singapore Open, a PPA Asia 500 stop set for July 23-26 with US$70,000 in prize money and 500 ranking points. For a player who serves full-time in the police force, the win moved him from a promising local name into a tournament with immediate regional and financial consequences.

The final showed why Yong is climbing so quickly. After falling behind 9-5, he clawed back into the match, then trailed again at 13-10 before taking five straight points to close it out. Against Foo, that stretch was less about flash than control. Yong kept his nerve, found the last run, and finished a first-to-15 final that could have slipped away.

The result also underlined how fast the sport is organizing around a real ladder in Singapore. Yong has only played pickleball for three years, yet he now has a route into one of the region’s most significant events. PPA Tour Asia has positioned PPA Asia 125 tournaments as a pathway for emerging talent, with winners earning direct entry to the next PPA Asia 500 event. Yong used that route exactly as intended.

That matters in Singapore, where pickleball is moving beyond weekend recreation and into a competitive ecosystem. Singapore Pickleball says the sport was first introduced in the 1980s, the Singapore Pickle-Ball Association was founded in 1995, and the body now serves as the national governing structure. The country has about 5,000 active players and more than 30 public pickleball courts, with bookings more than tripling since 2023. Yong’s rise arrives in a sport with growing participation, but still without the depth of full-time pro structures seen in more established markets.

His win also came against regional company, not an isolated local field. Malaysia’s Shahmirzzy Kelvin claimed bronze in the same men’s singles event, a reminder that Singapore’s best players are already being measured against stronger Southeast Asian opposition. For Yong, that makes the Singapore Open more than a reward. It is a test of whether a working Singapore athlete can keep converting part-time progress into full-scale regional contention.