Vietnam’s Future Stars pickleball cup heads to Da Nang

Da Nang will host the third stage of the Vietnam Pickleball Open Cup - Future Stars 2026 on July 4-5, and the field is built around one question: who is ready to move from promising junior to national-caliber player? The tournament’s U10 through U18 boys’ and girls’ divisions, plus singles, doubles and mixed doubles, make this more than a weekend junior meet. It is Vietnam’s clearest attempt yet to turn youth pickleball into a development ladder.

Registration for the Da Nang stage remains open until July 1, and the event will be shown live on VTVCab as well as on the Facebook pages of New Sports and the tournament itself. New Sports JSC is organizing the stop with Thieu Nien Tien Phong & Nhi Dong Newspaper and the Da Nang Pickleball Federation, giving the series the kind of institutional backing that separates a true pathway from a one-off festival.

That pathway has already shown its scale. The opening Future Stars stop in Hà Ni in January drew more than 800 registrations and produced about 450 athletes after selection, which organizers described as the largest junior pickleball tournament held in Vit Nam to that point. The series then moved to HCM City from June 12-14 at NSC The Global City, keeping the national circuit rolling before the Da Nang leg.

The structure matters. Players who can handle singles pressure, then switch into doubles and mixed doubles, give coaches a better read on versatility, touch and decision-making under match stress. For a sport still building its competitive base in Vit Nam, that kind of format is how talent identification becomes more than a slogan. Nguyn Hi Long, speaking at the launch ceremony, framed youth investment as a long-term direction and said a sustainable sports foundation has to begin with giving children room to compete, gain experience and grow in a professional setting.

Da Nang is a logical place to test that idea. Local reporting has identified it as the first locality in Vit Nam to establish a city pickleball federation, with nine clubs recently recognized as members. The city is also preparing to host the Pickleball World Cup 2026 from August 30 to September 6, with matches at Cung th thao Tiên Sơn and other venues, which places the youth cup inside a much larger citywide push.

That is what makes Future Stars more than another junior bracket. If the next wave of Vietnamese players comes through Hà Ni, HCM City and now Da Nang, the series will have done what most youth events only promise: it will have built a national pipeline.