After Asian Games debut, new sports teqball, MMA and padel eye lasting impact

NAGOYA – Along the corridor at the Nagoya City Higashi Sports Centre, Indonesian athlete Sumaya was fighting back tears.

Mobile phone in hand, she was on a video call to her parents in Riau on Sept 19, and delight lit up her face as she told them she had booked a place in the Asian Games final. Next to Sumaya, a member of her coaching team was unable to contain his emotions.

While the 21-year-old teqball player would go on to win a historic silver medal the next day, just making the final already felt like an achievement.

The opponent she beat in the semi-final, India’s 24-year-old Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza, was also smiling simply because she was flying India’s flag in this sport at an Asiad – something that felt unthinkable at one time.

And fittingly, their own breakthroughs came as the sport announced itself on a bigger stage.

Just over a decade after its invention, teqball made its Asian Games debut in Aich-Nagoya. So too will padel, surfing, BMX freestyle, virtual taekwondo and mixed martial arts (MMA).

Teqball began in Hungary in 2012 with two neighbours using a football and a ping-pong table.

There were five medals up for grabs in teqball at the Asiad in men’s and women’s singles and doubles, and in mixed doubles, with Thai athletes claiming three golds.

Sumaya, who goes by one name, played sepak takraw as a child after she was introduced to the sport by her parents, who were both athletes.

While she had hopes to represent Indonesia in the sport, she was grateful that the opportunity came via teqball, which she switched to in 2024.

Sumaya said via a translator: “I have trained every single day for the last two years. I dedicated my life to teqball. Every morning, afternoon and evening. I watched (different sports) at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018 and did not imagine that I would one day be a part of it. I am so proud.”

Quimcy, who hails from Mumbai, played football and represented the Maharashtra state at the Under-19 level before picking up teqball in 2022. While recovering from an injury, she watched a video of Brazilian icon Ronaldinho playing teqball on Instagram and was intrigued.

She began playing in Mumbai with a small group of enthusiasts before moving to Bengaluru, where she now runs a club.

Both Sumaya and Quimcy hope their appearances at the Asian Games will boost the profile of the game back home.

Quimcy, who described it as “overwhelming” to participate in a fully funded tournament for the first time unlike previous competitions where she had to self-fund, added: “(Being here) is a big thing for me. I’ve only dreamt about this day, and playing at such a big platform just gives immense pleasure not to me but to all the Indian players who are here and the dreams that we’re carrying for every teqball player back in India.”

Over three days of competition, watched by hundreds at the free-entry venue, there was a diverse range of players vying to become the Games’ first teqball medallists. The Philippines men’s team featured three 14-year-olds, while Japan was represented by Takahiro Nodomi, who also works as a comedian.

Oohs and aahs were heard in the crowd as players repeatedly launched themselves into the air to execute gravity-defying bicycle kicks. Barcelona and Spain legend Carles Puyol was also the guest of honour on the final day, sprinkling a dose of star dust.

The Olympics is the next goal, as that would mean further legitimacy, funding and the chance to grow a global fan base.

“It’s an amazing milestone on our journey because the teq world community globally is dreaming of becoming an ​Olympic sport one day,” International Teqball Federation (ITF) general secretary Laszlo Vajda told Reuters.

MMA also made its debut in Aichi-Nagoya, featuring a competition mat instead of a cage and modified rules. Athletes competed in traditional martial arts uniforms with shin guards for protection, and dropping knees on downed opponents was prohibited.

Fans have not quite flocked to the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre, with about 200 supporters in attendance daily.

But Singapore’s Tiffany Teo, who clinched a historic gold in the traditional 60kg semi-final bout on Sept 22, called the inclusion a huge boost and hopes it will mean more parents will accept the sport.

On the sport’s Olympic bid, Teo said: “It will encourage more children and teenagers to take up the sport and take it seriously. Because now there’s a clear pathway, right? You can join the national team. The next step you can go to the (major Games) and if you are really good, you can even try to fight in big organisations like UFC, Professional Fighters League.

“Coming from a professional MMA background, I feel like a lot of it is figuring out as I go. I’m always training, but I’m not sure when my next fight is. But with this format, I feel like there’s always competition. There are qualifiers, national tournaments (and) when it becomes an Olympic sport, there will be international tournaments, and this helps the athletes to develop throughout the different stages. So I feel like this is great for athletes to develop from as beginners to a higher level.”

Also making its bow in Japan is padel, with matches running from Sept 28 to Oct 3 at the Higashi Sports Centre. Combining elements of tennis and squash, it is generally played as two-on-two doubles, and its most distinctive feature is the reinforced glass and wire-mesh walls surrounding the court.

Like the other new sports, its athletes are hoping that the major games inclusion will be a catalyst for others to pick up the sport.

Kazuki Tomita, 31, from Saitama Prefecture, will fly the flag for the hosts.

According to The Japan News, he moved to Spain, where the sport is extremely popular, seven years ago for a more suitable training environment. He has been competing on the sport’s international tour.

“I would be happy if even just one more person picks up a racket after watching me play,” Tomita said.