In the first announcement of the PPA Tour Asia system rankings after the opening tournament in Malaysia, Trinh Linh Giang took the highest position in the men's singles event.
The tennis player born in 1997 won the Panas Malaysia Open championship on July 6, thereby accumulating 1,000 points - the maximum score for an Open tournament in the system.
Following Linh Giang are Vanshik Kapadia (India) with 800 points and Wong Hong Kit (Hong Kong, China) with 600 points. These are the 3 most prominent names after the first tournament of PPA Tour Asia, a system in development to create a professional playground for pickleball in the region.
Trinh Linh Giang was a mainstay of Vietnamese tennis, participating in many Davis Cups and major international tournaments. However, when the pickleball movement developed strongly in Asia, he decided to change direction.
Recently, Linh Giang has often played with Ly Hoang Nam, a former number one tennis player in Vietnam in many regional and world tournaments.
PPA Tour Asia currently divides the tournaments into three levels: Slam, Cup and Open, with points accumulated according to rankings to determine positions on the rankings and seeds for the next tournaments.
After Malaysia, the next tournaments in 2025 include: Hong Kong Open (21'24.8), Japan Open (26-31.8), Vietnam Open (4-79), and Malaysia Cup (9 12.12).
With the current leading position, Trinh Linh Giang is not only a bright face in Vietnamese pickleball but is also affirming his pioneering role in the regional arena.
Internationally, pickleball has many rating systems, but the most prominent are the PPA Tour (Professional Pickleball Association) of the US and DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating).
The PPA Tour system organizes up to 25 tournaments each year, divided into levels such as Slam (2,000 points for champions), Cup (1500), Open (1,000) and Challenger (125).
