The 2026 Pickleball World Cup in Da Nang gathers more than 5000 athletes from 81 countries and territories. Closing 1 week of competition, host Vietnam leads with 272 medals, including 117 gold medals; surpassing South Korea (11 gold medals) and the United States (10 gold medals).
The scale of the tournament is shown through a system of events spanning from the national team to Pro Open, Amateur, Junior and many age groups and levels. Therefore, the achievements of Vietnamese pickleball come not only from a single squad but are the combined result of many forces.
In the journey of the Vietnamese pickleball team, the CAND pickleball club is present at all three levels: Kids, Junior and Open.
In the Kids group, all athletes in the Vietnamese team belong to the CAND pickleball club. The team won a world bronze medal after losing to the US opponent. This result shows that young Vietnamese athletes have the ability to compete with strong opponents in the international arena.
In addition, the CAND team also contributed 2 players Sophia Phuong Anh and Tran Huy Bao Chau in the Junior event. Both won silver medals with the Vietnamese team, thereby adding to the club's mark in the youth ranks.
In the Open event, CAND has 5 athletes participating including Trang Huynh, Sophia Huynh Tran, Truong Vinh Hien, Trinh Linh Giang and captain Do Minh Quan. This is the highest-level competition group at the World Cup.
In addition to the athletes force, team leader To Duy and head coach Nguyen Hai Long also belong to the CAND pickleball club. The Vietnamese team with this force won the right to enter the Open final and face the US team.
Although they could not win the championship, the achievement of reaching the final has proven the competitiveness of Vietnamese pickleball at a high level.
With the above contributions, the CAND pickleball club is showing its role as an important launching pad in the journey to bring Vietnamese players to the world.
