Kuching South opens dedicated pickleball courts at MBKS Sports Village
Two pickleball courts at MBKS Sports Village show Kuching South is turning a niche craze into public sports infrastructure, with 168 players already in training.
Kuching South has turned a repaint job into something bigger for Malaysian pickleball: two dedicated courts are now in play at the MBKS Sports Village in Bintawa, giving the sport a permanent place inside a public facility that already serves badminton and netball. The newly reconfigured venue now accommodates three badminton courts, two pickleball courts and one netball court, a clear sign that city officials are treating pickleball as part of the local sporting mix rather than a temporary add-on.
That shift did not happen overnight. On May 3, 2025, Kuching South mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng said MBKS planned to convert two existing badminton courts at the Sport Village into dedicated pickleball courts as a pilot project, with the council starting small to study demand and community response. The logic behind that approach is straightforward: if the courts are used heavily, the city can justify more space for a sport that is drawing new players across Sarawak and Malaysia.
The numbers already suggest real momentum. MBKS ran a Community Pickleball Training Month from July 1 to 31, 2025, offering free Saturday sessions at Picklepro Kuching, Tabuan Laru Family Club. By then, 168 participants had registered, showing that the sport’s appeal in Kuching South was broad enough to fill structured beginner programming before the new courts were even fully established. The council also had the Kuching Festival Mayor’s Pickleball Championship scheduled for August 2-3, 2025, with women’s doubles open, men’s doubles open, mixed doubles open and veteran men’s doubles open on the program.
The MBKS move also fits a wider public-sector push in Sarawak. In July 2025, Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian said the government was looking into creating more pickleball courts to support active living, reinforcing the idea that local authorities see the sport as a tool for everyday exercise, not just competition. That matters in a council area of 61.53 square kilometers, where access to affordable facilities can shape who gets to play and how often.
MBKS, the City Council of Kuching South, was established under the Local Authorities Ordinance 1996, and its Bintawa opening shows how municipal planning is adapting to one of Asia’s fastest-rising racket sports. In Kuching South, pickleball is no longer waiting on the margins of public recreation. It is being built into the system.
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