Malaysia's Choo Lyn Yuen Heads to the PPA Challenger in Charlotte

Choo Lyn Yuen of Sarawak is representing Ipoh's 002 Pickleball Club & Academy at the PPA Challenger in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 25 to 27 September, the first time the Challenger Series has run an event in the city.

It is not her first trip to this stage. Earlier this year, Choo won silver in the Pro Women's Doubles division at the PPA Challenger in Colorado, partnering Natalie Hur, a result Ipoh Echo reported as Malaysia's first Pro Division medal in a PPA tournament.

What a Challenger Title Actually Unlocks

The PPA Challenger Series is the PPA Tour's development tier, launched in 2025 to give players outside the main Tour roster a path onto it. Its Pro Division is a separate bracket from the amateur 3.0 to 5.0 divisions running alongside it: winners split a $10,000 purse, and the Pro Division champion at each event earns a wildcard into the main draw of a PPA Tour Open.

002 Pickleball Club & Academy has also credited Choo, in its own posts, as the first Malaysian to qualify for and win Main Draw matches at the PPA Masters, a claim made by the academy itself that Pickle361 could not independently verify.

Malaysia's No. 1, By the Academy's Own Count

The academy's promotional material lists Choo at a 5.379 DUPR rating, Malaysia's No. 1 in Women's Doubles. A DUPR Asia leaderboard screenshot the academy shared placed her 19th in the region as of 18 September, one spot behind Taiwan's Kai Fen Yi and just ahead of Vietnam's Kim Tam. The same graphic headlines her as Asia's "Top 20"; a separate post from the academy a week earlier called her "Asia's Top 19." This week's caption rounded her position to "Top 17." Pickle361 could not verify a ranking more precise than the No. 19 shown on the academy's own screenshot.

Momentum Behind Her

002 Pickleball Club & Academy, founded by Colin Tan, has been adding to its roster through the year, including Thai pro Ramon Narula as its first international signing. In the days before Choo's trip, the academy's own team also picked up a bronze medal at the Tom Khoo Georgetown Pickleball Championship. Off the court, Choo is a postdoc researcher, according to her own Instagram bio.

Her matches at Peak Time Pickleball run through 27 September. No results had been published anywhere Pickle361 could find as of publication.

This article is based on social media posts and historical data tracked by Pickle361.