Bali Padel Event Sets All-Time Asian Record with 138 Pairs

Indonesia Breaks Asia's Padel Record — Twice in One Month

The FIP Promises Bali Island Sports tournament, held at Holywings Padel Club from August 13 to 16, drew 138 pairs across eight age categories — a new all-time record for padel participation at a youth FIP event in Asia. That figure erases the previous Asian benchmark of 113 pairs, which had only been set the month before at FIP Promises Jakarta. Indonesia has now broken its own record within 30 days.

The eight categories span Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, and Under 18 in both boys and girls draws. The Under 16 boys' bracket alone registered 33 pairs — a draw that would equal or exceed many national senior tournaments in established padel markets. Indonesia's state news agency ANTARA described Bali as host of "the largest ever international padel event" in the country's history.

A Youth Pipeline Taking Shape in Southeast Asia

The FIP Promises circuit exists precisely to build competitive padel from the ground up in non-traditional territories. Unlike senior events, where a national federation may simply invite foreign professionals, Promises tournaments depend entirely on homegrown youth players finding the sport, joining clubs and competing seriously enough to register for an international draw. Two consecutive records in the same country suggest that player base exists and is growing organically in Indonesia.

The speed of the shift is striking. Just a few years ago padel in Southeast Asia was largely confined to expatriate communities in Singapore and a handful of courts in the major Indonesian cities. The back-to-back FIP records in Jakarta and Bali indicate the sport has broken into the mainstream youth sporting culture — a transition that took several years longer in Europe.

Context: Global Growth With Shifting Frontiers

The Bali milestone arrives during a week when the rest of the padel world is debating overcapacity in mature markets. The Global Padel Report 2026, produced by Playtomic, recently counted 58,334 courts worldwide and 19.4 million players globally — roughly six times the court count from 2016. In Spain alone there are more than 17,300 courts and six million players, but new-build projects there now face a saturated market. Asia and other emerging territories represent the genuinely open frontier for future growth.

The timing also carries significance for padel's Olympic ambitions. With the sport debuting as a medal event at the Mediterranean Games in Taranto (August 22–28), the FIP can point to Asia's youth participation data alongside European competitive pedigree as evidence of worldwide reach — a key criterion in any Olympic inclusion argument.

Finals on Sunday, Then Belgrade

The FIP Promises Bali Island Sports wraps up on Sunday, August 16, with finals across all eight categories. A concurrent FIP Silver professional event at the same Bali venue concludes the same day, making this one of the most complete padel weeks Asia has hosted to date. Attention will then shift to the FIP Gold Belgrade (August 24–30), where fewer than 440 points separate Yanguas/Nieto, Stupaczuk/Sanz and Paquito/Di Nenno in the rankings between spots seven and twelve — a tightly packed battle whose outcome could substantially reshape the men's mid-tier order before the season's final stretch.