The PPA Tour Asia’s inaugural season was filled with memorable moments and career-defining matches, and plenty of of them have been preserved in pictures by the completely different match photographers who labored with PPA Tour Asia. A type of pictures, particularly, not too long ago obtained world acclaim because it was chosen as a finalist within the World Sports activities Images Awards 2026.
Stated {photograph}, proven above, is that of Tyson McGuffin and Eric Oncins celebrating a hard-fought level within the Males’s Doubles gold-medal match within the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025. McGuffin and Oncins had been taking up the high-powered pair of Christian Alshon and Ben Johns, they usually celebrated the win by launching their paddles skyward. Each paddles cling frozen in time within the picture as each gamers present uncooked emotion and athletic depth. McGuffin and Oncins gained that iconic match, 2-1 (11-5, 13-15, 11-9), to win gold in PPA Tour Asia’s first leg this season.
Match photographer Ashok Kumar took stated image, which earned finallist standing within the Racquet Sports activities class. Such recognition marks a major milestone for pickleball images on the worldwide stage, with the game represented among the many world’s elite sporting imagery.
The World Sports activities Images Awards is the world’s most prestigious sports activities images competitors, judged by main figures from sport, media, images, and artistic industries. The 2026 version proved to be probably the most aggressive but, drawing over 23,000 photographs from 4,100 photographers throughout greater than 123 nations all over the world.
Winners can be introduced in January 2026. You’ll be able to view the opposite finallists within the completely different classes HERE.
You’ll be able to relive that thrilling Males’s Doubles Finals right here:
