Tribune News Network
Nagoya (Japan)
Team Qatar celebrated a golden double on Saturday as Rashid Nawaf and Mishari Nawaf claimed a historic triumph in the men’s padel while Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan completed a golden hat-trick in beach volleyball at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
H.E. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, President of the Olympic Council of Asia, honoured Rashid and Mishari Nawaf with their gold medals while Jassim Rashid Al Buenain, Secretary-General of Qatar Olympic Committee, and Ali Ghanim Al Kuwari, President of Qatar Volleyball Association, awarded the gold medals to Younousse and Tijan.
The golden wins raised Team Qatar’s medals tally at the Games to 16— 5 gold, 6 silver, and 5 bronze— with hopes remaining high for more on the Games’ final day.
Rashid and Mishari Nawaf achieved a historic milestone as they beat Malaysian pair of Christian Chin and Aidan Yunus 6-3, 6-1 in the final at the Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center.
It was Qatar’s first-ever gold in padel at the Asian Games— marking the sport’s debut on the official program — and thereby writing a new chapter in the history of padel across the continent.
The Qatari duo, seeded first in the competition, finished without dropping a set. They began their campaign by defeating the Kuwaiti team of Abdulaziz Maiouf and Fuad Behbehani in straight sets in the Round of 16, followed by a straight-sets victory over the UAE team of Abdullah Al Abdullah and Fares Al Janahi in the quarterfinals.
In the semi, Rashid and Mishari Nawaf continued their successful run by defeating the Iranian pair of Hami Golestan and Arya Roghani.
Tariq Zainal, President of the Asian Padel Federation, praised Qatar’s triumph. “On behalf of H.E. Nasser bin Ghanim Al Khelaifi, President of Qatar Tennis, Squash, Badminton and Padel Federation, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Amir of the State of Qatar, on winning the first-ever gold medal in the history of the Asian Games Padel competition,” he said.
“We also extend our congratulations to H.E. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, President of the Olympic Council of Asia and President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, as well as to the people of Qatar, on this historic occasion.”
He added: “We are overjoyed to have won the gold medal and take great pride in this historic achievement which is the fruit of efforts to develop the sport of padel in Qatar; we look forward to achieving even more success in the future.”
‘Proud to raise Qatar’s
flag high’
Rashid Nawaf expressed his immense happiness on winning the gold, emphasizing his pride in raising Qatar’s flag high at the Games in Japan.
He said: “My happiness is indescribable regarding this honorable achievement, which crowns all the efforts made throughout the tournament to reach the podium. We dedicate this achievement to our wise leadership and the Qatari people; we aspire to continue achieving success and raising Qatar’s flag high in future events.”
Mishari Nawaf said, “My happiness is indescribable; if someone had told me just two years ago that I would win the Asian Games gold medal — I wouldn’t have believed it. Yet, here I am, standing on the podium celebrating this historic achievement alongside my brother, Rashid, after we delivered a magnificent performance throughout the tournament.”
Honourable triumph
Mohammed Saadon Al Kuwari, captain of the national padel team at the Asian Games in Japan, described the gold medal win by Rashid and Mishari Nawaf as well-deserved, honourable, and historic achievement.
“We congratulate the national padel team on this historic milestone and extend our thanks to our wise leadership, whose full support enabled us to reach the podium and raise Qatar’s flag high,” he said.
Rashid Abdullah Al Athba, Head of the Qatar’s padel team delegation said: “We expected to win the gold medal, given the high level of performance shown by our team and the efforts the players exerted throughout the competition. Praise be to God, we succeeded in achieving our goal and raising Qatar’s flag high.”
Golden hat-trick in
beach volleyball
Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan scored an exciting 2-1 victory over Indonesian opponents in the final to retain the goldfor a third consecutive time, maintaining their strong presence on the Asian stage.
Younousse and Tijan secured the gold — following their triumphs in Jakarta-Palembang (2018) and Hangzhou (2022) — thereby continuing to write a remarkable history for Qatari beach volleyball at the Asian Games.
The final was an evenly matched contest. The Indonesian pair of Rachman Sofyan Efendi and Bintang Akbar took an early 2–0 lead before the Qatari duo leveled at 2–2, subsequently moving ahead at 4–2, 5–4, and 6–4. Indonesia hit back tying the score at 17–17 and eventually clinching the set at 21–19. Qatar asserted their dominance early on in the second set, taking a 4-1 lead, followed by 7-3.
The pair extended their lead to 15-12, then 18-14 and 19-15, before winning the set 21-16.
In the decider, Younousse and Tijan displayed fine form to take a 6-2 lead which they soon consolidated and won the set 15-8 and the match by two sets to one.
Ali Ghanim Al Kuwari, President of Qatar Volleyball Association said: “We congratulate our wise leadership and the Qatar Olympic Committee on this major achievement. We dedicate this precious gold medal to our wise leadership, which has spared no effort in supporting sports and athletes. I also extend my thanks and appreciation to H.E. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, for his continuous support of Qatari sports and athletes; this serves as a great motivation for us to continue our work and achieve further success.”
He added: “I would like to commend the duo, Younousse and Tijan, who delivered outstanding performances throughout the tournament. They demonstrated great fighting spirit , and truly deserved the gold medal following an exceptional campaign.”
We kept our promise and won gold: Younousse
Cherif Younousse expressed his immense joy and said: “Praise be to God for this achievement and for winning the gold medal. The final against Indonesia was difficult and intense; we knew full well that our opponent would not be easy, so we entered the match with great focus and remained committed to our goal until the very end.
“The entire tournament was challenging. Thankfully, we succeeded in overcoming all our opponents, reaching the final, and ultimately securing the victory and the title. We had pledged to give our all to retain the title and bring joy to the Qatari fans; thankfully, we succeeded in fulfilling that promise and securing the gold medal for the third consecutive time.”
A fruit of immense
hard work: Tijan
Ahmed Tijan stressed that the gold medal was a result of a lot of hard work.“Praise be to God for this cherished achievement. I am delighted to have won the gold after a tough and demanding tournament. I thank my teammate Cherif for the tremendous effort he put in throughout the tournament, and I also thank the coaching staff and everyone who stood by and supported us. We dedicate this gold medal to Qatar and its people, as well as to our wise leadership, and we hope to continue achieving success and raising Qatar’s profile in future championships.”
