{"id":1010,"date":"2026-04-05T12:40:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T03:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/news\/mb-hanoi-cup-2026-results\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T01:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:56:08","slug":"mb-hanoi-cup-2026-results","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/mb-hanoi-cup-2026-results\/","title":{"rendered":"The MB Hanoi Cup 2026 concludes\u2014Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters win, a historic tournament with 800 participants at Asia\u2019s first PPA Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From April 1 to 5, 2026, held at the My Dinh Indoor Arena in Hanoi, Vietnam,<a href=\"\/en\/tournament\/ppa-tour-2026\/\">PPA Tour<\/a>the Asian \u201cMB Hanoi Cup\u201d finished its full schedule on the 5th. Amid a fierce battle for the top seed, Anna Leigh Waters, in her first-ever appearance at an Asian international tournament, reached the finals in two events\u2014women\u2019s doubles and mixed doubles.<a href=\"\/en\/player\/ben-johns\/\">Ben Johns<\/a>Her pair stood at the top in two events, men\u2019s doubles and mixed doubles, in a tournament where the world\u2019s top players clashed on an Asian stage for the first time. Here is the full picture of a tournament Japanese pickleball players should note.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"mb2026\">MB Hanoi Cup 2026 final results<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Event<\/th>\n<th>Winning pair<\/th>\n<th>Runner-up pair<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Mixed doubles<\/td>\n<td>Ben Johns &amp; Gabe Tardio<\/td>\n<td>Federico Staksrud &amp; Hayden Patriquin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Women\u2019s doubles<\/td>\n<td>Anna Bright &amp; Anna Leigh Waters<\/td>\n<td>Catherine Parenteau &amp; Hurricane Tyra Black<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Men's Doubles<\/td>\n<td>Ben Johns &amp; Gabe Tardio<\/td>\n<td>Tama Shimabukuro &amp; Jonathan Truong<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>* Women\u2019s singles and men\u2019s singles results can be checked on the official tournament website.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"_1\">Anna Leigh Waters in her \u201cfirst-ever Asian international tournament appearance\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>For Anna Leigh Waters, ranked No. 1 in women\u2019s singles, the MB Hanoi Cup was her first international tournament appearance. The sight of her, called \u201cthe queen of pickleball,\u201d playing at a packed venue was widely reported within Vietnam too, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vietnam.vn\/en\/ngam-nu-vdv-pickleball-so-1-the-gioi-dang-du-giai-ppa-asia-tai-ha-noi\">vietnam.vn<\/a>a feature article was also put together here.<\/p>\n<p>There was also a notable move on the sponsorship front. It was also officialized at this tournament that Waters ended her contract with longtime sponsor Paddletek and newly signed a long-term sponsorship agreement with Franklin Pickleball.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"ppa\">The significance of the PPA Tour\u2019s first Asian edition<\/h2>\n<p>The special point of this tournament is that it was \u201cthe PPA Tour\u2019s first Asian event.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Number of registered participants<\/strong>: about 800 in total across pro and amateur<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prize scale<\/strong>: up to 300,000 dollars in the pro division (awarding up to 1,000 PPA ranking points)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Broadcast<\/strong>: aired on the PPA Tour Asia YouTube channel, PickleballTV, FPT Play (Vietnam), TBS Sports (Japan), and True Vision Now (Thailand)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A live broadcast was also carried on TBS Sports from Japan, and combined with the rapid increase in Japan\u2019s pickleball population (about 45,000 as of 2026), it confirmed that interest in Asian tournaments is rising.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"joola-hc-40\">The official ball is<a href=\"\/en\/brand\/joola-pickleball\/\">JOOLA<\/a> the HC-40\u2014the \u201cslower than the U.S.\u201d issue<\/h2>\n<p>The official ball adopted for this tournament was the JOOLA HC-40. Several pro players commented that it was \u201cconsiderably slower\u201d compared with the ball used on the U.S. PPA Tour, and there were scenes where U.S.-based players struggled early in matches.<\/p>\n<p>This is actually suggestive information for amateur players. Many of the balls popular in Japan have specs close to the JOOLA HC-40 (relatively slow, control-focused), and there are cases where players who practice with the U.S. tour as a reference feel \u201cwhy is the ball at international tournaments different?\u201d Understanding the nature of the ball used and designing practice around it is important for participating in tournaments in Asia.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"ppa_1\">The next PPA Tour Asia event\u2014the notable host site<\/h2>\n<p>The full PPA Tour Asia 2026 schedule after the MB Hanoi Cup has not yet been made public, but according to industry insiders, Japan, South Korea, and India are named as candidate sites. In Japan too,<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/\">The Picklr announced a 20-facility expansion,<\/a>and infrastructure development is advancing at a rapid pace. Attracting an international tournament is likely a matter of time.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"_2\">Summary\u2014Asian pickleball finally gets going in earnest<\/h2>\n<p>The MB Hanoi Cup may become a tournament carved into later pickleball history as \u201cthe match where the world\u2019s best clashed in Asia for the first time.\u201d A scale of nearly 800 participants, 300,000 dollars in prize money, and simultaneous live broadcasts in multiple countries was unimaginable five years ago. For players competing at home, an Asian international tournament is no longer \u201ca distant story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those who want to enjoy the matches more deeply should also refer to<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/pickleball-paddle-trend-2026-foam-core\/\">the 2026 paddle trend report.<\/a>For facility information in Japan, please also see<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/picklr-japan-expansion\/\">the article on The Picklr announcing a 20-facility expansion in Japan<\/a>and<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/pickleball-base-osaka\/\">and the Pickleball Base Osaka April-opening information.<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reference information<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedinkpickleball.com\/mb-hanoi-cup-tournament-preview\/\">The Dink Pickleball: MB Hanoi Cup tournament preview<\/a><br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ppatour-asia.com\/tournament\/2026\/hanoi-cup\/\">PPA Tour Asia official<\/a><br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/pickleball.com\/news\/anna-leigh-waters-to-make-international-debut-at-ppa-tour-asias-mb-hanoi-cup\">pickleball.com: Anna Leigh Waters\u2019s first international event<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Reference Links<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ppatour.com\/schedule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PPA Tour Schedule<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026\u5e744\u67081\u301c5\u65e5\u3001\u30d9\u30c8\u30ca\u30e0\u30fb\u30cf\u30ce\u30a4\u306e\u30de\u30a4\u30c7\u30a3\u30f3\u5ba4\u5185\u7af6\u6280\u5834\u3067\u958b\u50ac\u3055\u308c\u305fPPA\u30c4\u30a2\u30fc\u30a2\u30b8\u30a2\u300cMB\u30cf\u30ce\u30a4\u30ab\u30c3\u30d7 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ssp_meta_description":"MB\u30cf\u30ce\u30a4\u30ab\u30c3\u30d72026\u304c\u9589\u5e55\u2014\u2014\u30d9\u30f3\u30fb\u30b8\u30e7\u30f3\u30ba\u3068\u30a2\u30f3\u30ca\u30fb\u30ea\u30fc\u30fb\u30a6\u30a9\u30fc\u30bf\u30fc\u30ba\u304c\u512a\u52dd\u3001\u30a2\u30b8\u30a2\u521d\u306ePPA\u30c4\u30a2\u30fc\u306b800\u4eba\u53c2\u52a0\u306e\u6b74\u53f2\u7684\u5927\u4f1a\u306b\u3002\u30d4\u30c3\u30af\u30eb\u30dc\u30fc\u30eb\u6700\u65b0\u30cb\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9\u901f\u5831\u3002","swell_btn_cv_data":""},"categories":[32,53],"tags":[123,110,109,105,65,81,14,6,33,80,37],"region":[2093],"class_list":["post-1010","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","category-tournament-info","category-overseas","tag-year-2026","tag-anna-leigh-waters","tag-ben-johns","tag-ppa","tag-asia","tag-singles","tag-vietnam","tag-ball","tag-tournament","tag-strategy","tag-japan","region-vietnam-rg"],"acf":{"summary":"2026\u5e744\u67081\u301c5\u65e5\u958b\u50ac\u306eMB\u30cf\u30ce\u30a4\u30ab\u30c3\u30d72026\u304c\u9589\u5e55\u3002\u7537\u5b50\u30c0\u30d6\u30eb\u30b9\u3068\u6df7\u5408\u30c0\u30d6\u30eb\u30b9\u306f\u30d9\u30f3\u30fb\u30b8\u30e7\u30f3\u30ba\uff06\u30b2\u30a4\u30d6\u30fb\u30bf\u30eb\u30c7\u30a3\u30aa\u7d44\u3001\u5973\u5b50\u30c0\u30d6\u30eb\u30b9\u306f\u30a2\u30f3\u30ca\u30fb\u30ea\u30fc\u30fb\u30a6\u30a9\u30fc\u30bf\u30fc\u30ba\uff06\u30a2\u30f3\u30ca\u30fb\u30d6\u30e9\u30a4\u30c8\u7d44\u304c\u512a\u52dd\u3002TBS\u30b9\u30dd\u30fc\u30c4\u304c\u65e5\u672c\u3067\u751f\u4e2d\u7d99\u3057\u305f\u3002"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1010"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=1010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}