The Mindanao Open 2026 had its males’s singles closing all set: Quang Duong vs. Phuc Huynh.
Two Vietnamese gamers, two gold medal contenders, one court docket. Then neither of them stepped onto it.
What unfolded on the afternoon of twenty-two Could 2026 on the Davao pickleball event was one of many strangest episodes in current pickleball historical past—a championship match that by no means occurred, an award ceremony that needed to be redone, and an argument that cuts to the guts of sponsorship conflicts in a quickly professionalising sport.
Quang Duong and Phuc Huynh had each navigated a aggressive draw to succeed in the lads’s singles closing. When the time got here to play, they refused. Duong wouldn’t use his opponent’s ball. Huynh wouldn’t use his. The ultimate was cancelled. The gang watching the livestream was baffled. The questions began instantly.
The difficulty, because it emerged, was not private animosity. It was branding.
Quang Duong, Phuc Huynh at Odds Over Ball
Each the 40-hole and 48-hole pickleball variants—produced by two totally different Vietnamese producers—had been official event balls on the Mindanao Open. Huynh is sponsored by the model behind the 40-hole ball. Duong had been enjoying his matches on the way in which to the ultimate with a 48-hole ball and refused to modify. The organisers had, in impact, created a battle by accepting sponsorships from two competing manufacturers whose star gamers had been each competing in the identical draw—and when these gamers met within the closing, there was no clear decision.
The fallout was messy. The organisers initially awarded the championship to Huynh. Duong didn’t settle for. A number of hours of discussions adopted. Then, in a reversal that stunned everybody, the organisers declared each gamers joint champions—citing “unforeseeable circumstances” that prevented the ultimate from going down and framing the twin gold medals as a matter of respect and truthful play. Nguyen Huu Hung Anh took third place.
Duong’s father, Duc Duong, left no ambiguity about the place the household stood.
“We didn’t fly from the US to the Philippines to promote for one more firm,” he stated. “If it weren’t for the sponsor’s request, I’d have cancelled immediately’s match. Quang Duong is taking part on this event due to the sponsor’s ball, not as a result of he’s enjoying free of charge.”
The organisers, for his or her half, have since offered a full timeline. On the primary day of competitors—21 Could 2026—the 40-hole ball related to Huynh was used. On the second day, 22 Could 2026, Duong’s 48-hole ball was in play. When each gamers reached the ultimate on that second day, Duong wished to proceed with the ball he had been utilizing all through. The disagreement that adopted made the ultimate unattainable.
Lesson Discovered
To stop the battle from recurring, Philippines Pickleball Federation founder Aldus Corel Dela Cruz determined that the remaining two days of competitors—23 and 24 Could—would use solely 40-hole balls, alternating between the 2 manufacturers each day. The 48-hole ball was not used.
The broader challenge goes past one event. For elite gamers whose livelihoods are tied to sponsorship agreements, utilizing a rival model’s tools is just not a minor inconvenience—it’s a elementary battle of curiosity. In pickleball, the place the distinction between ball varieties is just not merely beauty however includes real efficiency variables in gap rely, development, and really feel, the stakes are actual. Accepting competing ball sponsorships in a draw that might pit these sponsors’ athletes towards one another within the closing is a structural downside—and the Mindanao Open simply discovered that lesson the laborious approach.
Two gamers. Two gold medals. Zero video games performed. And a sport that also has some rising as much as do.
