Over the weekend in Pampanga, the Parañaque Titans wrote their names into the record books as the first-ever champions of a brand-new chapter in Philippine sport—that of pickleball’s meteoric rise.
What is Pickleball? What Is MPPT?
Before getting into how they got there, it’s worth explaining exactly what pickleball is and why a league built around it suddenly matters. The sport itself blends elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis, played on a court roughly a third the size of a tennis court with solid paddles and a perforated plastic ball. It’s easy to learn, forgiving on the joints, and genuinely social by nature—a combination that’s turned it into the fastest-growing sport in the Philippines over the past few years, with courts, clubs, and local tournaments multiplying in cities nationwide.
That rapid growth is exactly what convinced boxing legend Manny Pacquiao to put his own name behind a professional pickleball venture. The Maharlika Pilipinas Pickleball Tour (MPPT), sanctioned by the Games and Amusement Board, launched this year as a 12-team regional league, extending the same Maharlika brand that built the MPBL into basketball’s grassroots consciousness. Each franchise fields eight to ten players, including a requirement of at least two homegrown athletes, competing across men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. The inaugural Invitational season runs five legs, with the winning team at each stop taking home ₱1 million, broadcast nationally through a partnership with Solar Sports. It’s being treated as a preseason tune-up ahead of a full MPPT season targeted for 2027, when the league hopes to expand to 16 or even 24 teams.
Twelve founding franchises make up this first season: the Parañaque Titans, Abra River Paddlers, Tacloban Aces, GenSan Punchers, Rizal Illustrados, Alfonso Siklab, Bangued Miki, Batangas Bangers, Pampanga Chiefs, Muntinlupa Smashers, Bacoor Strikers, and Camarines Norte Golden Hawks.
A Dominant Run From Start to Finish
Before the actual season unfurls, the MPPT launched a multi-leg Invitational as a sort of fitting prelude to the tour itself. The inaugural leg played out at Pickleball Central PH in Angeles City, and nobody left more of a mark on it than the Parañaque Titans. The Titans swept Abra, 3-0, in the championship match, capping what can be described as a dominant run from start to finish.
The Parañaque Titans were ruthless from the very start of group play, sweeping Tacloban, Alfonso, Muntinlupa, Pampanga, and Rizal to finish atop Group B with a perfect 15-0 record and 45 points. Alfonso finished second at 10-5 with 35 points, followed by Rizal at 8-7 with 31, and Tacloban at 5-10 with 25.
Abra matched that level of dominance on the other side of the draw, going 13-2 with 41 points to claim the top seed in Group A. The River Paddlers blanked Camarines Norte, Bangued Miki, and Batangas outright, while edging both Bacoor and GenSan, 2-1. GenSan finished second at 9-6, trailed by Bangued Miki at 8-7 and Batangas at 7-8.
The Knockouts Got Considerably Harder
Group play is one thing. The knockout rounds made both top seeds prove exactly how badly they wanted the inaugural trophy.
Abra needed all five matches to get past Tacloban in the quarterfinals, taking women’s doubles 11-5 and mixed doubles 2 at 11-9, before surviving a tiebreaker, 25-22. Tacloban pushed back hard, claiming men’s doubles 11-3 and mixed doubles 1 at 11-4, but Abra held its nerve when the match was on the line.
The other side of the bracket was just as tense. Rizal fell behind early against GenSan after Paulo Fermin and Jun Ceasar Ian Malacaman powered an 11-2 win in men’s doubles. Clarice Patrimonio and Bambi Zoleta answered for Rizal, beating Kyle Rivera and Honey Mae Gilles, 11-6, in women’s doubles. GenSan moved back in front when Julius Quezada and Gellian Rivera edged Hans Cabellon and April Cuizon, 14-12, in mixed doubles 1—but Rizal refused to fold. Zoleta and Joma Pague forced a decider by beating Gilles and Malacaman, 13-11, in mixed doubles 2, before Cabellon sealed it in the tiebreaker, firing the winning smash through GenSan’s defense for a 25-20 win.
The Parañaque Titans and Alfonso Siklab, by comparison, had far smoother trips through their own quarterfinals. The Titans swept Batangas, 3-0, taking men’s doubles 11-2, women’s doubles 11-7, and mixed doubles 11-4. Alfonso Siklab cruised just as comfortably past Bangued Miki, 3-0, winning men’s doubles 11-7, women’s doubles 11-3, and mixed doubles 1 at 11-4.
The semifinals settled the final pairing. Abra continued its march by sweeping Alfonso, 3-0, while Parañaque ended Rizal’s run with a 3-1 win, setting the stage for the inaugural MPPT championship match.
Parañaque Titans Deliver in the Final
Once the final actually began, it was rarely in doubt. Team captain Leander Lazaro and Matt Daniel Navarro set the tone immediately, dismantling Allen Gerry Malangit and Ken Unique Dela Cruz, 11-1, in men’s doubles.
Abra pushed back in women’s doubles, with Patricia Raymundo and Macy Solon Ybanez racing out to a 6-2 lead against Fatima Amirul and Sarah Jane Lim. The Titans wouldn’t be denied, though. After the side change, Amirul and Lim steadily clawed their way back, moved ahead 7-6, and completed the comeback outright, 11-6, leaving Parañaque one win away from history.
Ruben Gonzales Jr. and Jessica Agra carried that final weight in mixed doubles. Johnny Arcilla and Shy Mae Gitalan made them work for it, building a 9-7 lead and threatening to extend the match, but Parañaque had the answer one more time. Gonzales and Agra reeled off four straight points to close it out, 11-9, completing the 3-0w sweep and sending the Titans into the history books as the first-ever MPPT champions.
From a flawless 15-0 group-stage run to three straight knockout wins, the Parañaque Titans never lost a single match across the entire inaugural Pampanga leg.
Up next for the MPPT is the second leg of the Invitational scheduled on October 17–18 at the Tagaytay City Velodrome, to be held in partnership with the Alfonso Siklab, one of the tour’s founding members. And if Leg 1 was any indication, expect the Parañaque Titans to be championship contenders again.
