Ken Yasui, right, returns a shot during the 2021 pickleball national championships mixed doubles competition in Indian Wells, California.
Submitted photo
Ken Yasui has played tennis for most of his life, but after three back surgeries and a broken ankle, he found a sport that is a little less stressful on the body.
Three years ago, at the age of 70, Yasui discovered pickleball. Now 73, the Columbus resident is one of the top players in the nation in his age division.
“I couldn’t play tennis anymore after three back surgeries,” Yasui said. “Some friends introduced me to pickleball, and I thought, ‘Pickleball, are you kidding me?’ I just thought, ‘That’s not going to be fun,’ and got playing, and they next thing you know, I was hooked.”
Last month, Yasui won the bronze medal in Men’s Singles 3.0 70+ at the 2022 USA Pickleball Southwest Diamond Regional in Mesa, Arizona. The next day, he teamed with Bill Hutchison to win bronze in Men’s Doubles 3.0 70+.
Yasui bought his first pickleball paddle in late 2018, but couldn’t play because of the surgeries. He started playing in late 2019, but most of the tournaments in 2020 were canceled because of the COVID pandemic.
Last year, Yasui got more serious about pickleball. He entered the St. Louis Regional Championship last May and qualified for the national championships with a gold medalist finish.
“I had no idea (about advancing to nationals), but the reason why we decided to get into that was, it was halfway between at home here and Springfield, Missouri, where our daughter and son-in-law live,” Yasui said. “We thought it would break up a long trip. Lo and behold, I got lucky, and next thing you know, I won the gold in singles.”
Yasui played in the national championships in December in Indian Wells, California. He plans to return to Indian Wells in November for the 2022 nationals and has played in three tournaments so far this year to try to qualify for next year’s national championships, which are in November 2023.
Pickleball, Yasui has found, is much easier on his back than tennis.
“Especially in singles because we don’t have that much ground to cover,” he said.
Yasui attended Southwest Missouri State and Kansai University in Japan. He moved to Columbus in 1989 and worked mostly as a consultant and independent contractor before retiring in 2017. He and his wife also owned Eluna Coffee House in Edinburgh from 2011-17.
Since he began playing in pickleball tournaments in February 2021, Yasui has won 12 medals.
“I started seriously competing last May, and between last May and now, I’ve participated in several major tournaments,” Yasui said. “I found the pickleball players to be accommodating, friendly, very helpful. I got to know a lot of people from all over the world playing pickleball.”
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