Taiwan to launch inaugural professional pickleball season Aug. 29

Taipei, Aug. 17 (CNA) Taiwan's newly established Asia Elite Pickleball League (AEPL) announced Monday its inaugural five-team season will begin Aug. 29 in Taichung.

Pickleball fans will initially see Grand Launch Group, Taoyuan Leopards, Ahhh, Team Lumu and Furete Tech compete against one another from late August through November.

At a press event Monday promoting the professional league and its inaugural season, AEPL CEO Chang Chih-wei (張智維) said the league is in discussions with another group from Taichung that could join as a sixth team.

Chang said the league was created in response to the growing popularity of pickleball in Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia in recent years.

He said the AEPL aims to provide high-quality, competitive professional matches.

Also at the event, Johnny Chang (張建偉), CEO of the Taoyuan Taiwan Beer Leopards in the Taiwan Professional Basketball League, spoke about forming a pickleball team within the Leopards organization.

Johnny Chang said he had selected Willy Chung (鍾振煒) as captain of the Taoyuan Leopards pickleball team.

"We had been sponsoring Willy Chung already," Chang said. "It just so happens that we formed a pickleball team, so we decided to persuade him to captain the team."

Chang added that Chung was given responsibility and free rein to select the team's players.

One member of the Leopards' roster is 15-year-old Chiu Tsi-en (邱子恩), who is the youngest player in the AEPL.

Chiu said that she has been playing pickleball for almost a year only after being introduced to the sport by a classmate.

She said she gradually fell in love with the game and plans to continue playing both pickleball and tennis -- which she has been playing for six years already.

Chiu said the two sports are similar in that both require strategic thinking, with the main differences being court size and whether the sports are played outdoors or indoors.

According to the league, the first two days of competition will be held Aug. 29-30 at the pickleball facility in the 1908 Taichung Green Corridor around Taichung Railway Station.

The league said the season will be held at eight to-be-finalized locations around Taiwan before the finals and will feature a prize pool of NT$1 million (US$31,419).

For its second season next year, the AEPL said that it aims to attract teams from countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau.