Kuching to host Pickleball Freak Championship 2026, eyes 1,300 players

Kuching is chasing more than a tournament here. With organizers targeting more than 1,300 players and enthusiasts for the Pickleball Freak Championship 2026 at Star Pickleball, the June 26-28 event is being framed as an international draw that could bring in competitors from across the region and beyond.

That matters because the scale is no longer just about who wins on court. A field that large can fill hotels, keep restaurants busy, and give Sarawak a repeat-visitor product rather than a one-off sporting weekend. For Kuching, the real prize is branding: if pickleball travelers start treating the city as a reliable stop, Star Pickleball could become the anchor for a broader sports-tourism circuit in East Malaysia.

The championship also arrives with RM80,000 in prize money, a sign that the event is being built to look and feel like a serious fixture rather than a club meet. Combined with the international pitch and the size of the projected turnout, it strengthens the case that Kuching is trying to position itself as a destination capable of hosting large-scale pickleball traffic, not just local participation.

That ambition is unfolding at a delicate moment for Malaysian pickleball. The Malaysia Pickleball Association was suspended by the Sports Commissioner’s Office on Feb. 27, and the regulator gave the body 30 days to explain why it should not be deregistered under the Sports Development Act 1997. The office cited governance problems involving leadership succession, committee appointments and annual general meetings that allegedly lacked quorum, while the association said it had already held a remedial AGM on Jan. 13 and elected a new executive committee.

Even with that off-court uncertainty, Kuching keeps building momentum. On May 30-31, the Bandar Kuching Pickleball Championship team event was staged at Star Pickleball in Tunku Ibrahim, and MUSCS Podium Ace (MPA) won the title with nine Sarawakians in its 10-player squad. Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said on May 20 that the sport’s growth in Kuching can strengthen the coaching ecosystem and push local coach quality toward international standards, while noting that Sarawak was the first state in Malaysia to introduce pickleball.

The venue pipeline is widening too. Toyota Malaysia’s Pickle Tour 2026 has already booked Star Pickleball in Kuching for Aug. 1-2, and Kuching hosted the MATTA Malaysia Pickleball Grand Slam 2025, which was expected to draw more than 1,000 participants. Add in Pikabol Malaysia, described in 2025 coverage as Asia’s largest indoor pickleball facility with 16 international-standard courts, and Kuching’s message is clear: it wants to be remembered not as a stop on the calendar, but as one of the sport’s permanent homes in the region.