27 In, 4 Out: August 2026's Player Signings and Departures
Andrew Lee27 players signed with a new brand or academy across Southeast Asia's tracked pickleball scene in August, and two brands each cleared their own signing multi-packs on a single day: Paddletek Malaysia signed five players at once on 13 August, and Kamito closed out the month by signing three more on 31 August. On the other side of the roster, four players said goodbye to a sponsor this month, a real jump from a baseline of almost none.
Paddletek's Five-in-One Day
Paddletek Malaysia's 13 August announcement named five players in one post, the single largest roster move tracked this month by any brand:
- Norman Wong (@w_northman)
- Koay Janson (@koayjanson)
- Catherine Liew (@catherine_eva_liew)
- Muhammad Ariq (@ariqrifqy_pb)
- Kimberly Tan (@kimberly.tan_pb)
It landed on the same day Kamito separately confirmed an unnamed U15 APP champion joining its own roster, and 002 Pickleball Club & Academy signed Dickson Ng.
Kamito's Roster-Building Sprint
Kamito signed five players across the month, two clusters bookending it:
- Min En (@iammin_en) — 5 Aug
- Robert Huy — 31 Aug, RX1 Ambassador
- Tong Nhat Minh — 31 Aug, RX1 Ambassador
- Rob Stirling (@rstirling47) — 31 Aug, RX1 Ambassador
Three of those five landing on the same day at the end of the month, alongside Min En's signing at the start of it, reads as a deliberate roster push rather than opportunistic one-offs.
002 Academy and Franklin Built Steadily, Not All at Once
Where Paddletek and Kamito each had a real single-day cluster, 002 Pickleball Club & Academy and Franklin both built their August rosters one signing at a time:
- 002 Pickleball Club & Academy: Dickson Ng (13 Aug), Ramon Narula (@pickyballer.pb, 14 Aug), Brandon Fong (@brandonfong_uniqueman, 23 Aug)
- Franklin Malaysia: Lim Lynn (7 Aug), Dahlia Rizal (@dshazall, 18 Aug)
- Franklin Singapore: Scott Lim (24 Aug), Franklin's first tracked signing outside the Malaysia market this month
Every Other Signing in August
- Neem → Gearbox Sports Malaysia (1 Aug)
- @xinny.pickleball → Selkirk Sport Malaysia (3 Aug)
- Darren Ong → Kasaca Sports (10 Aug)
- Yu-Chieh Hsieh → PPA Tour (10 Aug)
- Cailyn Campbell → Six Zero (10 Aug)
- Anna Bright → SLAMIT (11 Aug)
- Aiko Yoshitomi → PPA Tour (12 Aug)
- Freddy & Fae → new academy affiliation, brand not named in the source post (18 Aug)
- Sabrina Gee → Team Luzz (26 Aug)
- Wong Hongkit → Sino Group (30 Aug)
- Aiman Hamdan → JOOLA and Tomaz Pickleball Club (30 Aug)
Who Left
Athlete departures are almost never announced in this market — Pickle361's own tracked data has found close to zero in a typical month. August was a real exception, with two organizations saying goodbye to four players between them:
- Xin Lim confirmed the end of her sponsorship chapter with Gearbox Malaysia (1 Aug), after one year.
- Onevo said goodbye to three team members in a single post (2 Aug): Chan Guo Jing, Samuel Chan, and Catherine Chan.
Four real departures in one month, against a baseline of essentially none, is worth watching for whether it's a one-off cluster or the start of a real pattern.
This article is based on social media posts and historical data tracked by Pickle361.
