Kota Kinabalu: The highly anticipated Kinabalu Pickleball League is set to commence at the Pickle Collective in Sutera Avenue this Saturday (Jan 24) with 20 teams taking part.
The inaugural event is based the dream breaker format featuring a single continuous match where the first team to reach 21 points will claim victory.
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The league will unfold over eight match days, occurring on the last day of each month and each match day boasts a prize pool of RM1,500 for the champions, RM1,000 for the runners-up, RM500 for third place, and a voucher worth RM500 for the most valuable player.
By the end of the season in August, the winning team will take home RM5,000, followed by cash prizes of RM3,500 for second place, RM2,000 for third, RM1,500 for fourth, and RM1,000 for fifth.
During the official launch ceremony held on Sunday, organising chairman Mohd Noh Adzlie expressed his excitement about the overwhelming response as they had anticipated only 16 teams.
“To be able to attract 20 teams is a huge success for us. Each team will consist of six players, bringing the total to 120 players participating in the opening match day,” he stated.
He also highlighted that the Kinabalu Pickleball League is a community-driven initiative aimed at promoting and developing the sport across Sabah.
“Our main objective is to promote and develop pickleball across Sabah and beyond as well as to create a sustainable league ecosystem.”
Also present at the ceremony was Julita Akabal, the protem president of the Sabah Pickleball Association.
