Staff Reporter
Nagoya: Qatar produced a memorable golden double at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 yesterday, with Rashed Nawaf and Mashari Nawaf claiming the inaugural men’s padel title before Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan retained their beach volleyball crown for a third consecutive edition.
The two victories on the penultimate day of the Games lifted Qatar’s medal tally to 16, including five gold, six silver and five bronze medals.
Top seeds Rashed and Mashari made history by winning the first-ever Asian Games gold medal in padel, which made its debut on the official programme.
The Qatari brothers completed an impressive campaign without dropping a set, defeating Malaysia’s Christian Chin and Aidan Yunus 6-3, 6-1 in the final at the Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center.
President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani presented the Qatari duo with their gold medals.
Rashed and Mashari began their campaign with a straight-sets victory over Kuwait’s Abdulaziz Mayouf and Fouad Behbehani in the Round of 16. They followed it with another straight-sets win against the UAE pair of Abdullah Al Abdullah and Fares Al Janahi in the quarter-finals before overcoming Iran’s Hami Golestan and Aria Roghani in the semi-finals.
Rashed said the historic achievement was the result of the hard work invested throughout the tournament.
“It is difficult to describe how happy I am with this achievement, which rewards all the effort we put in throughout the tournament to reach the podium,” he said.
He thanked everyone who supported the pair during their campaign and dedicated the gold medal to Qatar’s leadership and people.
“We hope to continue achieving success and raising Qatar’s flag at future events,” Rashed added.
For Mashari, the achievement was particularly significant as padel made its Asian Games debut.
“I cannot describe how happy I am with this historic achievement. If someone had told me just two years ago that I would win an Asian Games gold medal, I would not have believed them,” he said.
“Now I am standing on top of the podium celebrating this historic achievement alongside my brother Rashed after we produced a great performance throughout the tournament.”
Cherif and Tijan complete golden hat-trick
Later, Qatar’s beach volleyball stars Cherif and Tijan completed another chapter in their remarkable Asian Games journey by securing their third successive title.
The Qatari top seeds came from behind to defeat Indonesia’s Sofyan Rachman Efendi and Bintang Akbar 2-1 in a fiercely contested final.
The Indonesian pair took the opening set 21-19 after a closely fought battle, but Cherif and Tijan responded strongly, winning the second set 21-16 before dominating the decider 15-8 to secure the gold medal.
The victory followed their triumphs at the Jakarta-Palembang 2018 and Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, completing a hat-trick of titles.
Cherif said the final had been difficult and highly competitive but praised the team’s determination to retain the title.
“We had promised to give everything we had to retain the title and make the Qatari fans happy, and thankfully we fulfilled that promise by winning the gold medal for the third consecutive edition,” he said.
Tijan expressed his delight at winning gold after a challenging tournament and thanked his teammate, coaching staff and supporters for their contribution.
“I am extremely happy to win the gold medal after a very tough tournament,” he said.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s riders Sheikh Fahad Jassim Al Thani, Faleh Al Ajami and Mohammed Basem are set to compete in the individual jumping event today.
Qatari shooter Reem Al Sharshani also strengthened Qatar’s presence at the continental level after being elected to the Olympic Council of Asia Athletes’ Committee as the West Asia representative.
She will serve on the committee for the 2026-2030 term, further highlighting the growing participation of Qatari athletes in continental sports bodies and committees.