American Eric Oncins acquired the rockstar remedy when he came visiting to Southeast Asia for the PPA Tour Asia—and left a good larger star after he and accomplice Tyson McGuffin dominated the Males’s Doubles of each the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025 and the MB Vietnam Cup 2025 in back-to-back weekends.
However, in line with Oncins himself, that double gold in all probability wouldn’t have occurred if not for a coin toss.
Guesting on Zane Navratil’s Picklepod podcast, Oncins shared that going to Asia wasn’t even on his agenda as he was set to play the PPA Classic Open in Sacramento. Even when JOOLA, a accomplice of PPA Tour Asia, referred to as him a few occasions and requested if he may very well be McGuffin’s accomplice, Oncins evidently mentioned “no.” What’s extra, Oncins informed Navratil that in one of many calls, he laid out a situation in jest: “Should you get me enterprise class, I’ll be there.”
Destiny Intervenes By a . . . Coin Toss
JOOLA didn’t name again, Oncins recalled. However he considered the provide and determined to do a coin toss to find out if he’d go or not—enterprise class or in any other case. Lengthy story quick, the coin toss informed Oncins to go, and the remainder is historical past.
Oncins and McGuffin got here, noticed, and conquered Southeast Asia—first invading Malaysia after which taking Vietnam by storm. And judging by his interview with Navratil, who himself came visiting to Southeast Asia with Oncins, McGuffin, and a number of others, the double champ is glad he mentioned sure after initially saying no. In reality, he made or not it’s identified by way of Instagram, the place he gave JOOLA a shoutout for making the journey doable even on quick discover.
“What a tremendous two weeks, simply wish to give a shout out to JOOLA and Gordon to make this all occur inside like 3 days of discover,” Oncins wrote. “After I acquired the decision asking to get on a 30 hour flight 3 days from that point I used to be like “no likelihood” took some convincing from @johnny_goldberg and possibly a coin toss 🤪… On the finish the whole lot labored out properly and now we’re coming again house with two golds and a part of a Guinness world file!! 💪💪”
Oncins, like Navratil, was additionally blown away by the record-setting crowd in Vietnam that turned as much as witness Championship Saturday, the place Oncins and McGuffin gained their second gold.
“As quickly as I went in there, I believe we walked in collectively within the stadium like we acquired the primary look collectively. I used to be like, ‘Holy shit. That is unreal,’” Oncins recalled when he and McGuffin entered the crammed stadium. “I acquired goosebumps, chills, simply from being there, feeling that vitality… That’s how pickleball needs to be. Let the followers get into it.”
Now, had that coin toss mentioned in any other case, Oncins wouldn’t have been a part of historical past.
Catch Navratil’s podcast right here:
