The Dink Minor League Pickleball (MiLP) has kicked off in China with unprecedented success!
Prior to the MiLP entrance into China, the only pickleball tournaments were divided by age group, not skill level. This series is the first of its kind in the country to divide pickleball competition categories by Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) rating.
This endeavor of no small proportions is being led by Full Send Pickleball (孚信匹克球 in Chinese) & Track Ops Media, in partnership with DUPR and The Dink.
October 2024 saw the launch of The Dink MiLP in Zhuhai with a press conference and an exhibition MiLP match.
The event featured 7x Canadian pickleball champion Ernesto Fajardo & Director of the People’s Livelihood Affairs Bureau Hengqin-Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone, Mr. Yujie Huang to demonstrate this Major League Pickleball (MLP) format style of team play.
This style of play is relatively new to the Chinese pickleball community.
Even though MiLP China launched with only two months left in the 2024 calendar year, club and regional directors brought on by Full Send Pickleball from across the country put on more than 30 events (DUPR 12/14/16).
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These events were held in several major cities including Tianjin, Shenzhen, Hengqin, Chongqing, Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu.
All of these regional events led up to the championships that were set for Dec 28-29 in Chongqing, at the China-renowned Simple Touch pickleball facility.
Thanks to a WeChat Mini-Program called “DUPR赛事” (“DUPR Events” in Chinese) created by Full Send founder Yuki Chen, Chinese pickleball players can sign up for an MiLP event in their city with the touch of three buttons and by filling out a short online form that automatically creates a DUPR account for new players via an API connection.
Players are also able to view their team and individual points, rankings, ratings and results on this program, which also serves as China’s first-ever dedicated pickleball tournament management software.
This ease of access and recognizable UI with no language barriers has now brought up the number of DUPR user registrations incrementally in China!
In 2025, we'll see more than 300 MiLP China events take place across the country in 15 cities. Will we see a Chinese MiLP team at this year's National Championships? I guess time will tell.
