CIMB Padel Open draws record 244 players in Malaysia

Aidan Yunus and Christian Didier carried Malaysia into the men’s professional final at the inaugural CIMB Padel Open, where 244 players from 122 teams and 24 nationalities turned a one-day tournament into a sharp measure of how far the country’s padel scene has come.

The June 28 event was built around four divisions, Beginner, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate and Pro, across men’s and women’s play, and that structure mattered as much as the turnout. Nearly 78% of the field was Malaysian, which gave the draw a local core even as players from 24 nationalities widened the competitive mix. This was not a one-off exhibition padded with corporate branding. It was a proper competition with enough depth to put club regulars, first-time entrants and elite players in the same ecosystem.

At the top end, Yunus and Didier reached the final before falling to Spain-based pair Pol Alsina and Ferran Gonzalez, who took the men’s professional title. For Yunus, the result sharpened an already unusual arc. The 21-year-old, born on September 15, 2004, is listed by the International Padel Federation with an FIP ranking of 1069 on June 22, 2026 and a career-best mark of 1046. Before switching to padel, he had already reached Malaysia’s No. 1 junior squash ranking, a background that explains the speed and court craft he has brought into the sport.

His run also gave the home crowd something more tangible than a ceremonial debut. If Malaysia needs a face for its next padel phase, Yunus is an obvious one: a local player who has already crossed over from another racket sport and is now trying to keep pace with professionals from Spain. The Spanish winners underlined that standard. Alsina and Gonzalez did not just lift the trophy, they helped show how international the local circuit has become.

The event was developed with ASCARO, the company that helped kickstart padel in Malaysia when it opened at 1 Utama Shopping Centre in May 2023. ASCARO now lists four premium under-roof courts at its Kuala Lumpur club, and its 1 Utama venue runs daily from 7:00 a.m. to midnight. That footprint matters because padel is no longer just popping up in borrowed space. It is being built into a more structured club environment.

That growth sits inside a bigger trend. The International Padel Federation’s 2025 world report put active players above 35 million and said clubs rose 16.1%, courts 15.2% and federation members 42% year on year. Malaysia is beginning to mirror that curve. The Malaysia Padel Association appears on FIP’s federation list with an affiliation date of January 1, 2026, another sign that the sport is moving from loose participation into formal organization.

CIMB’s first step into padel also arrived in a market that is already scaling fast. The Volvo Padel Open 2025 had previously been billed as Malaysia’s biggest tournament, with more than 416 players across a six-week run from June 21 to July 27, 2025. By comparison, CIMB’s debut was smaller, but its 244-player field, international spread and pro final gave it something more important: proof that Malaysia now has enough depth, and enough corporate backing, to build a real competitive ladder.