At the “PPA Asia 500 Leapmotor Singapore Open,” held in Singapore from July 23 to 26, Japan's Kenta Miyoshi paired with Vietnam's Hien Truong to finish runner-up in the men's doubles. The final went the full distance before they lost to Collin Johns and Len Yang, taking silver. After Yuta Funamizu's results on the US tour, Japanese pros are now reaching the podium on Asian stages too. With Japan's playing population growing, an individual player's results run straight into questions about domestic event operation, sponsorship and development.
Kenta Miyoshi and Hien Truong take silver, beaten in the final by Collin Johns' pair
In the men's doubles final, Collin Johns and Len Yang went the full three games to put out Miyoshi and Truong. For Johns and Yang it is a third medal and a second gold on the PPA Asia circuit since May. Individual game scores have not been published by the organizers, so nothing is asserted about them here.
Kenta Miyoshi was born in 1995 in Saitama Prefecture. He went to Waseda University, played tennis for a corporate team, retired at 25 and turned professional in pickleball in March 2024. He is also known for playing mixed doubles with his wife, former professional tennis player Aiko Yoshitomi. Just over a year after switching, in April 2025, he won his first PPA title at an event in New Zealand, and Singapore is a result on that same line.
Miyoshi also reached the men's doubles final at the Beijing Open shortly before this, where he was on the opposite side of the net from Truong and lost. Truong's name turning up as both opponent and partner shows how a limited set of faces still circulates through men's doubles in Asia. Miyoshi keeps playing matches where he reaches the final but falls a step short of gold, and how he clears that wall is the next thing to watch.
Funamizu's first US tour title and Miyoshi's silver, two advances lined up within six months
The rising frequency of Japanese names in overseas results in 2026 is not about Miyoshi alone. The other axis is Yuta Funamizu, a former soft tennis player. He moved to the United States on his own in 2024 and turned professional, reaching the last four at the PPA Tour Grand Slam in Atlanta as the first Japanese player to do so, then winning the PPA 500 San Clemente for the first PPA Tour title by a Japanese player. In DUPR men's doubles he became the first Japanese man to top the Asian rankings, and he sits around 25th in the world.
Where Funamizu stacks up prize money and ranking on the main US tour, Miyoshi's main theatres are the Asian tour and domestic events, and he is raising his profile including through mixed doubles with family. Two players attacking different places, piling up their own “first by a Japanese player” results and podiums at almost the same time, looks like Japanese pickleball starting to move as a layer rather than as a single outlier.
| Item | Kenta Miyoshi | Yuta Funamizu |
|---|---|---|
| Previous sport | Tennis (corporate league) | Soft tennis |
| Turned pro | March 2024 | 2024 |
| Main arena | PPA Asia tour and domestic events | PPA main tour (United States) |
| Representative results | Won in New Zealand, men's doubles runner-up in Singapore | Atlanta last four, won San Clemente 500 |
| Ranking marker | A regular in Asian finals | DUPR men's doubles: 1st in Asia, around 25th in the world |
* Results are as of each event and report. Rankings change.
Vietnam and Hong Kong lead the map in Asia, with Japan chasing
Looking across the Singapore results, the men's singles went to Hong Kong's Hong Kit Wong (known as Jack), who medalled in all three disciplines. With Len Yang taking men's doubles gold and Hien Truong, Miyoshi's partner in the final, players from Southeast Asia and Hong Kong filled the top places. In the women's, Yufei Long took both the singles and the doubles. The Asian podium is still made up mostly of faces from outside Japan.
Behind this is a region-wide increase in courts and events. In Singapore, bases with indoor courts have appeared in residential areas, and in places the build-out of playing environments is a step ahead of Japan. How the region's standard is closing on the world level was covered inA Win in Hanoi Now Counts the Same as One in LA — DUPR Lays a Global Standard in Vietnam. As the environment fills in, the player base thickens and the regulars in finals turn over faster. The “wall” Miyoshi is trying to clear is also the gap in how fast each region is building.
Former tennis players hold up Japanese pickleball, and building the entrance is the next problem
Both Miyoshi and Funamizu came over from tennis and soft tennis. While a top layer with a racket-sport grounding is pulling the standard up, the path for players raised in pickleball itself to reach the international stage is still narrow. Japan's national team selection also still leans on open application, where other countries maintain squads of dozens. The differences in selection policy were set out inIndia picks 34 and Japan opens applications — the fork in the road for junior selection.
One more thing tied directly to Japan's upside is PPA's contract rules. A rule change is coming that will let pros under PPA contract represent their home countries at international events, and if it lands it becomes easier to fold top players like Funamizu and Miyoshi into the national team. That move was covered in detail inThe 20 players who could not carry the flag, and the day PPA opens up home-country representation. Whether individual podiums can be converted into “strength for the Japan national team” will separate the next few years.
Fans can track DUPR; facilities with indoor courts can become the landing spot for hosting events
If you follow as a fan, tracking where Miyoshi and Funamizu sit in the DUPR Asian and world rankings shows which events are closest to another “first for a Japanese player.” For domestic organizers and sponsors, the fact that the PPA Asia tour came as far as Tokyo shows that events able to attract overseas players are becoming viable in Japan too. If a regional commercial or sports facility puts in indoor courts, it becomes the landing spot for hosting events and for sponsor exposure. For companies handling food or regional products, a venue that gathers health-minded visitors is a point of contact. One silver medal can be read as material that pushes these domestic investment decisions along.
