Padel makes its Asian Games debut with the Olympics in its sights

Padel is now a medal sport at the Asian Games. From Monday 28 September to Saturday 3 October, the Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center in Japan is hosting the first padel tournament ever held at the continent's biggest multi-sport event, the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026.

Twenty pairs are competing in the men's draw and 23 in the women's. Qatar's Mashari Nawaf and Rashed Nawaf Naif are the top seeds among the men, while Japan's Kotomi Ozawa and Chifumi Sato lead the women's field. Day one brought a winning start for the hosts, with Ando and Nakamura beating a Lebanese pair in three sets (7-6, 2-6, 6-4), and a double victory for the Philippines. The medals will be decided on Saturday 3 October.

Another step towards the Olympics

For the International Padel Federation (FIP), Nagoya adds another milestone to a growing list: padel has already featured at the European Games and has been a medal sport at the Mediterranean Games and the South American Games. The next target is the Olympic programme. "We are working hard to make it happen soon," FIP official Donatella Del Gaudio told AFP, while stressing the need to respect the Olympic timeline.

The numbers back the ambition. According to figures cited by the sport's officials, padel is played in 170 countries and territories, on around 85,000 courts, by an estimated 38 million people. It is still new to many in Japan (entry was free and some spectators dropped in out of curiosity), but the contrast with Europe is stark: this month, a professional tour event at Roland Garros drew more than 80,000 fans in Paris.

Sources: FIP and AFP, via Free Malaysia Today.

Photo: Vincenzo Morelli via Unsplash, Unsplash License.