Padel made its debut as a medal sport at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, with competition running from September 28 to October 3 at the Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center. Twenty men's pairs and twenty-three women's pairs are competing, representing National Olympic Committees including Japan, Qatar, Iran, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, the UAE, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. Top seeds in the men's draw are Qatar's Mashari Nawaf and Rashed Nawaf Naif and Iran's Amir Mohamad Jamshidi and Farsad Shahi, while Japan's Kotomi Ozawa and Chifumi Sato and Indonesia's Novela Putria and Beatrice Gumulya lead the women's field
The debut follows padel's recent appearances at the Mediterranean Games and the South American Games. IPF officials called it a step closer to Olympic inclusion, with the federation's Donatella Del Gaudio saying the sport is working hard to make that happen while respecting the Olympic timeline, and describing the Asian Games debut as confirmation of padel's growth worldwide
