ProKennex is a Taiwanese manufacturer of

racquet A racket, or racquet, is a sports implement used for striking a ball or shuttlecock in games such as squash, tennis, racquetball, badminton and padel. In the strictest sense a racket consists of a handled frame with an open hoop across which ...

sports equipment for

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

, squash,

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase v ...

, and

pickleball Pickleball is an indoor or outdoor racket/paddle sport where two players (singles), or four players (doubles), hit a perforated hollow polymer ball over a net using solid-faced paddles. Opponents on either side of the net hit the ball back and ...

. The company enjoyed wide global distribution in the 1980s, when manufacturing in Taiwan was booming due to domestic economic conditions. Parent company Kunnan Enterprise Ltd. has faced financial difficulties since the mid 1990s, leading to a contraction of the ProKennex name globally. Today, the company focuses on a niche set of consumers interested in technology advancements in racquet sports. The company focuses on this aspect of its products by promoting itself as a "science and design company", rather than a standard racket manufacturer.

History

The origins of the company began in 1965 when Lo Kunnan, the son of a plastic toy gun manufacturer, began producing wooden badminton racquets in the backyard of his father's house. In 1968, Lo moved on to producing wooden tennis racquets, followed by aluminum racquets in 1973. In 1978, Lo launched sporting goods company Kunnan Enterprises Ltd., with ProKennex as its racquet brand. According to the company website ProKennex made history in 1980 by making the world's first mid-size

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on la ...

tennis racquet, followed by the world's first graphite squash racquet in 1983.About Us
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References

External links

* 1978 establishments in Taiwan Companies based in Taichung Manufacturing companies established in 1978 Tennis equipment manufacturers Sporting goods manufacturers of Taiwan Taiwanese brands {{Taiwan-company-stub