I play pickleball almost every day. Five, sometimes seven sessions a week. On courts in Hoi An, on courts I’ve found while travelling through Southeast Asia, and on courts in Australia and New Zealand when I’m spending time there.
I’m not a professional player. I’m not a former tennis coach with a point to prove. I’m just someone who got genuinely addicted to this sport and couldn’t stop playing.
DINQ came out of that.
The Problem I Kept Running Into
When you play as often as I do, you care about your paddle. A lot. You spend enough hours on court with a paddle in your hand that the difference between a mediocre one and a good one becomes very obvious, very quickly.
I’m from New Zealand originally. Lived in Australia for over a decade. Now spend a lot of time in Vietnam. And across all of those markets, I kept running into the same frustration: the gear available to players in Asia-Pacific either wasn’t very good, or it was imported from American brands at prices that made no sense for this part of the world.
A Selkirk or JOOLA paddle that retails at USD $150 in the US lands in Australia at AUD $250+ once you factor in the exchange rate, international shipping, and import duties. In Malaysia or Vietnam, the same paddle becomes even more inaccessible relative to local purchasing power.
I was paying those prices and it nagged at me. Not because I couldn’t afford it, but because it felt like the APAC market was an afterthought for these brands. Something to export product into at full US pricing, not a market worth designing for.
The Realisation
I’d been playing almost daily for a few years when I started being honest with myself about what I actually needed from a paddle.
T700 carbon fibre face for the spin and the feedback. A 16mm EPP foam core for the touch at the kitchen, the dampening that doesn’t punish your arm over a long session. USAPA approved, because I play on courts that run proper rules and I want to know my gear is legal. The right weight: 8.0-8.3 oz, heavy enough to drive, light enough to be quick at the net.
That spec exists. It’s not exotic. It’s not cutting-edge engineering. It’s just a well-made paddle built to the right dimensions with the right materials.
The question was why it wasn’t available in APAC at a price that reflected the actual cost of making it, rather than the American brand premium layered on top.
The answer: because no APAC-native brand had bothered to build it.
Why This Seemed Like a Great Opportunity
I’d been thinking about building something like this for a while. The passion was there: playing almost every day gives you a very clear sense of what the market needs. The roots were there: New Zealand-born, Australian-raised, now deeply embedded in the Southeast Asian pickleball community. The context was there too, understanding both the gear requirements and the APAC pricing reality.
And honestly? It seemed like a great opportunity to align on building a business based on fun.
That last part matters. I’m not a gear company executive who decided pickleball was a good market. I’m a player who plays because he loves it and who decided to build the brand that should already exist in this region.
What DINQ Is
DINQ is the brand I wanted to buy from and couldn’t find.
A T700 carbon fibre paddle, USAPA approved, 16mm EPP foam core, at a price that makes sense for APAC players, not at the American import premium. A complete bundle: paddle, tournament balls, carry bag. Priced in local currencies for the markets that matter most to us: Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam.
It’s not complicated. It’s just done right.
The Pre-Order Model
The first production run is a founding member pre-order. We need 150 orders to trigger production. If we hit that, everyone gets their bundle. If we don’t, everyone gets a full automatic refund.
This is how we keep the pricing honest. No warehouse full of inventory to amortise. No distributor margins. No retail markup. Just the real cost of making and shipping a quality paddle, sold directly to the players who pre-ordered it.
The founding member price is AUD $147 in Australia, NZD $159 in New Zealand, MYR 330 in Malaysia, SGD $119 in Singapore, and 1,950,000 VND in Vietnam. Free shipping across all those markets.
Once the founding round closes, retail pricing goes up. This is the one chance to get it at founding member pricing.
For APAC Players
If you play pickleball in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, or Vietnam, this brand is for you.
Built by someone who plays here, designed for the courts you play on, priced for the market you’re in, and available without the import headache of ordering from American brands.
That’s what DINQ is. That’s why I built it.
Pre-order the DINQ Founding Member Bundle
Play Different.
Rimaha Wiringi is the founder of DINQ and plays pickleball 5-7 times a week on courts in Hoi An, Vietnam. He is born and raised in Rotorua, New Zealand, and spent over a decade in Australia before hitting the road with his family in February 2020.