His Excellency Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), presented Qatar’s Rashed Nawaf and Mashari Nawaf with their gold medals after the pair won the padel competition at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games in Japan Saturday. The Nawaf brothers defeated Malaysia’s Christian Chin and Aidan Yunus 6-3, 6-1 in the final to claim the first padel gold medal in Asian Games history, with the sport making its debut at the continental Games.
The historic gold adds another milestone to Qatar’s participation in the Games, while the Nawaf duo’s achievement opens a new chapter for the development and growth of padel across the continent. Rashed and Mashari did not drop a set throughout the competition and produced a series of convincing performances on their way to the gold medal. They began their campaign with a straight-sets victory over Kuwait’s Abdulaziz Mayouf and Fouad Behbehani in the round of 16, before overcoming the UAE’s Abdulla Alabdulla and Fares Aljanahi in the quarter-finals.
The Qatari duo then defeated Iran’s Hami Golestan and Arya Roghani 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals before completing their historic run with victory in the final.
Qatar also won gold in beach volleyball as Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan completed a historic Asian Games hat-trick. The pair recovered from a set down to beat Indonesia’s Bintang Akbar and Sofyan Rachman Efendi 19-21, 21-16, 15-8 in the final. With only the showjumping events scheduled for the final day of the Asian Games Sunday, Qatar have won 16 medals, including five gold, six silver and five bronze.
