Pickleball body highlights upcoming devt in Sibu

SIBU (Sept 2): A court dedicated for pickleball will be among the 10 upcoming covered and open courts planned for Sibu. This is according to Bukit Assek state assemblyman Joseph Chieng.

The proposed court will be located in the Bukit Lima sports arena.

“So, it won’t be combined like badminton and pickleball courts together. It is purely for pickleball in Sibu,” said Chieng, who is also Sibu Division Pickleball Association president.

“We have received consent from the Sibu Municipal Council. The funding will come from my RTP (Rural Transformational Programme) … hopefully … we’ll be able to start (the project) at the end of this year,” he said at the Swan City Pickleball Invitational Tournament 2024 in SMI Park here yesterday which was officiated by Public Health, Housing and Local Government Deputy Minister Datuk Michael Tiang.

Meanwhile, he reiterated that the association is writing to Sarawak Education Department for approval to set up pickleball clubs in schools, particularly in secondary schools.

It is targeting 20 secondary schools and planning an inter-secondary school tournament by the end of the year.

The top three teams in the competition yesterday were MDPA Warriors, Paragon Perfecto and IPSS Smashers which pocketed cash prizes of RM3,000, RM2,000 and RM1,000 respectively.