Forged in Fire: Inside Wika's Hanoi Launch of the QD Fire 2 and Air 2

Hanoi was already loud by mid-morning. Inside U.S. Pickleball Club in Tay Ho, a venue carrying more than twenty courts, one court had been stripped out and replaced with a stage, a red carpet and a screen running the words FORGED IN FIRE.

That was Sunday, 23 August. Wika Pickleball used it to launch the second generation of its Quang Duong signature range, and the room filled to the point where people were standing along the fence line.

I was there for it, invited to Hanoi alongside two other Malaysian content creators and a contingent of creators from the Philippines.

What Wika Actually Put on the Table

Three things launched, not one.

The QD Fire 2 and QD Air 2 headlined, following The First Flame collection that Wika and Quang Duong released in February. A shoe line went out alongside them, displayed on the wall next to the paddles rather than announced from the stage.

Wika Pickleball director Tran Van Cuong framed it as continuation rather than reset. "Community reception of early-year products motivates continued improvement," he said. "The new collection results from joint pursuit to enhance product quality."

Quang Duong tied the name to his own path. "I particularly appreciate the Forged In Fire message, as it reflects my pickleball journey," he said. "Success doesn't come randomly but from training, overcoming difficulty, and maintaining passion's flame."

Fire 2 and Air 2 Solve Different Problems

These are not two colourways of the same paddle.

The Air 2 is the all-court option, and the one Quang Duong plays himself. Wika badges it with an S-Hyperfoam core, and Vietnamese retail listings describe that build as layered rather than uniform, TPE and EPP on the outside for damping with MPP through the middle for response. It runs 16mm, 419mm long and 190mm wide, at 225g give or take 5g, on a 140mm handle with a 108mm grip circumference.

The face is Wika's W-SIGRIP texture over Toray T700 carbon, with a claimed spin ceiling above 2400 RPM. Five metallic finishes: Blue, Bronze, Matcha, Purple and Silver Gray.

The Fire 2 goes the other way, towards feel and control. Its core is badged Hybrid Core 2.0, pairing a honeycomb structure with EPP, with Shield-Foam and titanium anti-twist reinforcement through the rim and neck. Both 14mm and 16mm are offered, in Pink, Silver and Emerald.

Look closely at a Fire 2 face and it carries USAP and UPA-A certification marks alongside an Edge Control System badge, which matters if you intend to take it into sanctioned play rather than social sessions.

Vietnamese retail sits between roughly 3.2 and 3.49 million dong depending on model and seller. There is no Malaysian price, because there is no Malaysian distribution yet.

The Room Was the Real Signal

The programme ran in three parts.

Demos first, with the full colourway wall open and staff putting paddles into the hands of anyone who asked. Then the stage segment and the reveal. Then the exhibition, with Quang Duong and his younger brother Bao Duong against two other Wika-signed players, closing with a target game played across boxes laid out on both service courts.

The brothers are not a novelty pairing assembled for the occasion. Bao made his professional debut as Quang's doubles partner at twelve years old, and the two took the men's doubles Open title together at Tiger Vu Yen 2026.

Hundreds turned up, and plenty were there for Quang Duong specifically. That is its own data point about what a signature athlete is worth in this market.

What I Heard After the Cameras Stopped

Wika hosted an appreciation lunch afterwards, and I spent it with people from the marketing and sales side.

Two things came through clearly. Vietnam is not the ceiling, and the Philippines is the next market on the list, chosen because pickleball there is growing fast enough to justify moving early rather than waiting. Beyond that the ambition is international, not just regional.

Inside Vietnam the brand does not need convincing. Acceptance there is settled. The open question is whether it transfers.

Why Malaysia Should Be Paying Attention

A Vietnamese brand running two parallel signature lines is not a small operation. Wika launched the NEXT-X with Nguyen Dac Tien days before this event, which means two athlete partnerships running at once rather than everything riding on one name.

That is a manufacturer behaving like a serious player, not a local supplier.

Malaysia is not on the announced list. Given how quickly the Philippines landed on it, that may not hold for long, and the paddles are already good enough that the real question is distribution, not product.