I do not usually cover the PPA Tour Asia events, but this one seemed different - a bunch of prominent US based players entered the field in Kuala Lumpur. Top players like Ben Johns, Christian Alshon, Kaitlyn Christian, and Anna Bright all played, so I think it deserves a quick write-up.
The tournament took place at 9Pickle Setia Alam, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The official ball for the tournament was the JOOLA HC-40, which is a little softer than what the US based pros are used to. Combine that with high heat and even higher humidity, and you get two things: the ball played extremely slow all week and the athletes were sweating more than they ever have before.
As an example, there was a ten-minute delay in the men’s doubles final. Was it medical? No. Was it for lighting? No. It was so the event staff could towel off the court because all the players had sweat on it so much, that it needed to be dried off. No, I am not making this up.
Kaitlyn Christian and Christian Alshon Both Earn Three Medals
If your name had Christian in it, you had a good tournament in Kuala Lumpur. Kaitlyn Christian beat the Dutch phenom, Roos Van Reek, in the singles final. Christian paired up with Zoey Wang to earn gold in women’s doubles over the Aussies, Schoeman and Townsend.
Alshon beat Hong Kit “Jack” Wong in the singles final. In men’s doubles, he teamed up with Ben Johns and fell just short against Eric Oncins and Tyson McGuffin, for a silver medal.
In mixed doubles, Alshon and Christian fell to the #1 overall seed, Ben Johns and Anna Bright, earning another silver medal.
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Not All Players were Able to Play
While the American based players dominated the gold medal stand, some other US-based players seemingly weren’t allowed to play.
Five US-based players who normally play on the APP Tour were "waitlisted" and then never placed into the pro qualifying draw:
- Bobbi Oshiro - women’s singles, women’s doubles (Yana Newell), mixed doubles (Max Manthou)
- Yana Newell - women’s doubles (Bobbi Oshiro), mixed doubles (Kenta Miyoshi)
- Max “Purple Jesus” Manthou - men’s doubles (), mixed doubles (Bobbi Oshiro)
- Jack Foster - men’s singles
- Amanda Hendry - women’s singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles
It is unknown why these top players were essentially blocked from playing in the event. Other players who play on competing international tours were placed into qualifying draws and even main draws. Additionally, other players who play on the APP Tour were allowed to play in this event, but not these five players.
Some of these players reportedly received zero communication from the tour itself and were just waitlisted and never entered into the draw. Most of the five listed had already traveled to Asia before they knew they were not going to be allowed into any of the draws.
As a growing tour, these are the types of things that are bound to happen. PPA Asia is trying to figure out its guidelines on entrants as it continues to grow the sport. All players need to abide by the decisions made, but the tour must also aim to be consistent in how rules are processed. This particular instance just doesn’t pass the eye test in terms of treating all players consistently.
Asia Based Players Showed Out
Here are some of the Asian based players who had standout performances this weekend:
- Hong Kit “Jack” Wong showed why he is one of the best Asian based singles players right now - his cat and mouse style earned him a silver medal
- Hoang Nam Ly - Another singles player who earned a podium finish, earning bronze
- Marco Leung - A UPA Asia Trailblazer product, Leung had the biggest upset in singles over Grayson Goldin in the Round of 16, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9, in an epic battle
Erik Tice
- Danni Townsend and Nicola Schoeman continued to prove they are both top five women in doubles in Asia, taking out the #1 seed in Anna Bright and Roos Van reek, earning a silver medal together
- Aiko Yoshimoti and Sahra Dennehy played phenomenally, beating Alix Truong and Jamie Wei, taking Christian/Wang to three games, and beating Liz Truluck and Yu-chieh Hsieh in the bronze match to earn third
- Dennehy also teamed up with Santosh Narayan and took out Tyson McGuffin and Zoey Wang in the quarters, 11-9, 11-2
The future is very bright for both the PPA Tour Asia and for the players in Asia. It was just announced that the PPA Tour Asia has opened applications for year two of the PPA Asia Trailblazer program:
Next up on the PPA Asia Tour is the MB Vietnam Cup, with qualifying beginning Tuesday September 30th (tomorrow).
Cover photo credit: PPA Asia Tour
Full Results
Women’s Singles
🥇 Kaitlyn Christian
🥈 Roos Van Reek
🥉 Chao Yi “Zoey” Wang
Men’s Singles
🥇 Christian Alshon
🥈 Hong Kit “Jack” Wong
🥉 Hoang Nam Ly
Mixed Doubles
🥇 Anna Bright/Ben Johns
🥈 Kaitlyn Christian/Christian Alshon
🥉 Alix & Jonathan Truong
Women’s Doubles
🥇 Chao Yi “Zoey” Wang/Kaitlyn Christian
🥈 Nicola Schoeman/Danni-Elle Townsend
🥉 Aiko Yoshitomi/Sahra Dennehy
Men’s Doubles
🥇 Tyson McGuffin/Eric Oncins
🥈 Christian Alshon/Ben Johns
🥉 Zane Navratil/Armaan Bhatia
