PxRef Fields 17 Referees for FILA's RM59,000 Championship League II

Three officials stand with their backs to the camera at FILA Pickleball Championship Series 2026, League II. Their white jerseys are printed plainly with the jobs they came to do: Head Referee, Tournament Director, Referee. It is a fitting closing shot for the team that ran the lines all day, PxRef, Malaysia's own pickleball referee team.

PxRef thanked FILA Malaysia publicly for the opportunity to officiate, calling it an honour to uphold fair play and keep the tournament running smoothly on court.

17 Referees, RM59,000 on the Line

League II ran on 4 Sep 2026 at Pickle by the Sea on Gurney Drive, Penang, home to FILA Country Club's Grand Stand 2 court and billed on site as Northern Malaysia's largest pickleball venue, powered by JOOLA. Eleven categories ran across Men's, Women's, and Mixed Doubles from Novice through Open, plus a Team DUPR 12 event, played as Round Robin heats into a Knockout stage.

The total prize pool came to RM59,000, split evenly between cash and FILA merchandise vouchers, with 17 referees officiating across the day. Winners in the individual categories, and the top two finishers in team events, qualify for the FILA Grand Tournament.

The stakes were real on court too. Picklestar Penang's Novice Men's Doubles duo finished 2nd, taking home RM800 cash plus an RM800 FILA voucher, a payout that matches the tournament's own stated structure: RM1,500 cash and voucher for the champion, RM800 for the runner-up, RM400 for third.

A Growing List of Assignments

League II was not PxRef's first assignment this month, or its biggest. The team has also officiated a corporate friendly at GOAT Sungai Pinang, the YYC X XERO Pickle Open (Kuala Lumpur's first pickleball bazaar) at The Hood, and the Leapmotor APP Asia Penang Open, a stop on APP Tour's own flagship regional circuit. That range, from a company clash to a major international tour stop, is the kind of track record FILA Malaysia was tapping into for its own championship series.

From Hairdresser to Head Referee

PxRef's own story is one Pickle361 has reported on directly. Founder PX Goh built the team after her own path into the sport, from running a hairdressing business in Kedah to volunteering as a referee at a free local tournament in Penang. That journey, and how it grew into what Pickle361's reporting has called Malaysia's first full-service referee team, is the subject of Pickle361's four-part Pickleball Referee Series.

For a team that started with one volunteer shift, running the lines at a FILA-branded championship series, with a Grand Tournament invite on the line for the players it officiated, is a real jump in scale.

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