Padel and Pickleball Champions Honoured at Maxxis Chief Awards 2026

Sankha Atukorale capped a four-title season with the Best Male Padel Player award at the Maxxis Chief Awards 2026, as Sri Lanka’s padel and pickleball community came together to celebrate the achievements and people behind Padel Chief Season 01.

Held on Friday, 18 September at Vault, Colombo City Centre, the evening brought players, officials, partners and supporters together after months of competition. Champions and runners-up were recognised across the Maxxis Ceylon Open 2026, Dunlop Grand Slam25 by HNB Priority Circle, the wider Slam25 series and Padel Chief’s pickleball competitions, alongside awards for performances and participation throughout the season.

Atukorale finished as the season’s most decorated championship winner. At the Maxxis Ceylon Open, he partnered Rajeev Rajapakse to win the Men’s Pro title and Bianca Acquistapace to claim the Mixed Pro championship. He followed those victories with two more at Grand Slam25, taking the Fixed Doubles Open title with Rajapakse before winning the individual Men’s Open crown.

Anika Seneviratne was named Best Female Padel Player of the Season. In pickleball, the top season honours went to Gayal Colonne and Sachini Iddamalgoda, who received the Best Male and Best Female Pickleball Player awards, respectively.

Several other players had multiple titles to celebrate. Rajapakse shared two championship victories with Atukorale, while Chinthake Dissanayake won both the Men’s and Mixed Intermediate titles at the Ceylon Open. Acquistapace also completed a double at the same tournament, winning the Women’s and Mixed Pro championships.

The awards also recognised the players who had made a habit of showing up. Yoosuf Faizal was named Most Active Male Player, and Sasala Dissanayake received the Most Active Female Player award. Each received a two-night hotel stay on a bed-and-breakfast basis in recognition of their participation throughout the season.

Sasala Dissanayake had another role that evening. As the mixologist behind Cocktails with Valerie, she prepared cocktails and mocktails for fellow players and guests, powered by MyCola and MyPower. Food was served throughout the evening, giving the community time to catch up and celebrate away from the courts.

Anjana De Silva and Saarangan Jeyachandirun received Officials Appreciation honours for their contributions to the season’s competitions.

The celebration provided an opportunity to recognise the partners behind Season 01.

Inc9000 served as Padel Chief’s Official Merchandise Partner and Sixnyne Collective as Event & Production Partner throughout the season. Parabolica, the Technology Partner, powered the digital scoreboards and provided the technology behind live scoring and live streaming, helping fans follow the action at the venues and online.

Perera & Sons supported the teams working behind both Grand Slam25 and the Maxxis Ceylon Open as Event Crew Catering Partner.

The Chief Awards itself was backed by Maxxis as Title Sponsor, MyCola as Official Soft Drinks Partner, Classic Travel as Official Travel Partner, Vault, Colombo City Centre as Official Venue Partner, and Amcom as Official Awards Partner.

In his closing remarks, Padel Chief CEO Thisura Jayasoma invited the community to look ahead to Brisbane 2032. He shared his hope that padel and pickleball would reach the Olympic stage, with Sri Lankan teams ready to compete, and called on players, coaches, federations, clubs, sponsors and the wider community to begin working towards that ambition together.

Padel Chief strives to become the operating system for players, clubs, coaches and organisers working towards that goal. By connecting them with the tools to develop talent, grow participation and run competitions, it aims to support the years of work needed to prepare Sri Lankan players for the world stage.