CNPL Central Split Results, and a Young Vancouver Owl to Watch

The CNPL’s Central Split wrapped up this weekend in London, Ontario, and by all accounts it delivered some of the most competitive pickleball the league has seen this season. Here’s what happened on court, and a young Vancouver Owl who made the most of his debut.

The results from London

Played across August 8 and 9 at Smash Pickleball, the Central Split lived up to its billing as a showcase for league parity. The Prairie Pronghorns were the standout turnaround story, bouncing back from consecutive 0-4 losses earlier in the season with a 3-1 win over the Southwestern Ontario Brewers — the kind of result that keeps a playoff push alive. The Vancouver Owls and the hometown London Smash also delivered standout performances over the weekend, with several matches coming down to the final points. For a league in just its fourth season, weekends like this are exactly the case study organizers point to when they talk about competitive depth across the standings.

The weekend also doubled as a coming-out party for a wave of newcomers. Max Wild, Armaan Jiwa Mawji, Stevie Petropouleas, Jacob Bolkowy, Audrey Yeung, and Jada Bui all made their CNPL debuts in London, and by the sound of it, more than one instantly looked like a player worth tracking for the rest of the season.

One to watch: Armaan Jiwa Mawji

Of that debut class, the Vancouver Owls’ Armaan Jiwa Mawji stands out. He was picked 10th overall in the 2025 CNPL Draft, carries a DUPR rating north of 5.5, and by most accounts on the court is tall, composed well beyond what you’d expect from a newcomer, and difficult to rattle in tight points. His game traces back to Canada’s high-performance tennis system: he trained at Grant Connell and Hollyburn, and came up through Tennis Canada’s program at the North Shore Winter Club before making the switch to pickleball. We weren’t able to independently confirm his exact age from a primary source, but he’s consistently described as one of the youngest players in the league, and this weekend marked his first taste of CNPL competition.

For a league built on regional pride and hometown rosters, having a Vancouver-raised talent like Mawji making noise in his first outing is a good sign for the Owls heading into the stretch run. Keep an eye on how his minutes and role grow over the next few events.

What’s next

The CNPL playoff picture is starting to sharpen with the Central Split in the books, and the league’s biggest weekend of the year is still ahead: Pickleball Canada’s National Championship runs August 25 to 30 in the Greater Toronto Area. Between now and then, expect more roster shuffling and a few more breakout performances from players making their first CNPL appearances, the same way Mawji did in London.