DUPR to Power Verified Play at 2026 EPIC World Championship (Evergreen: format & verification partnership for Singapore amateur world event)

For the first time in pickleball history, an amateur-only world championship with a $50,000 guaranteed prize purse is coming to Singapore, and the rating system that will govern every bracket, every seed, and every entry point is DUPR.

The EPIC World Championship will open at Kallang Tennis Centre on April 30 and run through May 3, built exclusively for players rated between 3.0 and 5.0 on DUPR's 2.000-8.000 scale. Hosted by the Singapore Tourism Board and powered by DUPR's Verified Play system, EPIC is the first mass-participation amateur world-level pickleball festival to require a verified digital rating as the price of admission, not a self-reported skill level, not a club recommendation.

That distinction matters more than it sounds. Amateur pickleball events across Asia have long struggled with bracket chaos driven by self-reported ratings: players who claim a 3.5 show up competing like a 4.5, and early-round mismatches frustrate entire fields. DUPR's verification process closes that gap. Matched results are confirmed, uploaded, and processed through DUPR's dynamic algorithm rather than accepted at face value, and DUPR Verified Events carry 50% more weight toward a player's rating than unverified casual matches, meaning results from EPIC will carry real, lasting consequences on a player's global ranking.

Entry to EPIC was invitation-only, extended to top DUPR-rated players from countries around the world with a DUPR rating between 3.0 and 5.0, ensuring global representation. To qualify, players needed a singles or doubles DUPR of 4.99 or lower as of January 31, 2026. That cutoff was firm: the rating on file at the end of January determined whether a player could register, protecting the field from last-minute inflation.

The event will feature Men's, Women's, and Mixed Doubles, as well as a Minor League Pickleball (MiLP) team format. The prize purse begins at a guaranteed $50,000 and is projected to reach approximately $75,000 based on final registrations. Champions also take home a two-night, three-day cruise aboard Star Cruise Genting, valued at over $1,800.

DUPR CEO Tito Machado framed the partnership in expansive terms, saying: "This event will unify players from all over the world who share a passion for pickleball."

For players in Asia eyeing future events built on this model, the practical lesson from EPIC is clear: verified matches build the rating that opens doors. Results sent directly from clubs and sanctioned tournaments carry greater weight than self-reported scores logged in the app, so playing in DUPR-sanctioned events and ensuring clubs submit results directly to the platform are the two steps that shape the number organizers use to seed world-level draws. Inflating casual match records provides a short-term boost that verified competition quickly exposes and corrects.

Asia's growing amateur pickleball community, in a region where over 800 million people have played the sport at least once, now has its first credible blueprint for mass-participation world events: one where a player from Jakarta and a player from Osaka land in the right bracket not by self-declaration, but by a verified result no one can dispute.