Taranto Draw Day: 18 Nations Set for Padel's Med Debut

Brackets Set at Taranto's Salinella Park

The draw ceremony for padel's debut as a Mediterranean Games medal sport took place on Friday in Taranto, completing the bracket for three events — men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. Seedings were determined according to FIP Ranking, with first-round matches at the Parco Mediterraneo Salinella scheduled to begin at 10:00 CEST on Saturday August 22. The competition runs through to Friday August 28.

Eighty-eight athletes from 18 nations will contest the events across the week. The competing countries include Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia, Türkiye, and Athletica Vaticana. Seventeen nations are entered in the men's draw, 14 in the women's, and 12 in the mixed.

Spain enter as the top seed in all three categories, anchored on the women's side by Lucía Sainz and Patty Llaguno — both former world number ones — alongside Jimena Velasco and Nuria Rodríguez. The men's squad features David Gala, ranked 34th in the world, together with rising talents Pol Hernández and Guille Collado, one of the most dynamic pairings on the FIP circuit in 2026.

Italy's Crowd and Carolina Orsi's Home Ambitions

Italy, as host nation, carries dual pressure: organisational pride in staging the Mediterranean Games for the first time in Taranto, and the sporting ambition of winning medals on home soil. Carolina Orsi, ranked 31st in the world, and Giulia Dal Pozzo, ranked 30th, form the spine of Italy's women's challenge. Marco Cassetta and Álvaro Montiel lead the men's contingent, while Giorgia Marchetti and Carlotta Casali add depth to the women's squad.

The Salinella Mediterranean Park was constructed as a permanent padel facility specifically for these Games — an investment that reflects Italy's long-term commitment to the sport. Local support in the stands could prove a factor in the tight knockout-format matches the draw will inevitably produce.

France brings Alexis Bahurel and Adrien Pothier as their leading pair in the men's draw, both experienced on the FIP circuit, while Portugal — led by the Deus brothers in men's and Diana Araújo in women's — enters as a credible outside bet across all three categories. Morocco and Türkiye have also shown significant improvement at international level over recent years.

A Week of Firsts, Watched in 244 Countries

All matches will be streamed live on Eurovision Sport, reaching audiences across 244 countries and territories — a broadcast footprint that illustrates how far padel has travelled in a decade. The schedule builds to quarter-finals on Tuesday August 25 and Wednesday August 26, semi-finals on Thursday August 27, and then "Super Friday" on August 28: bronze-medal matches in the morning, followed by all three gold-medal finals in the afternoon.

The format is straight single-elimination from the opening round, which means any upset on Saturday will echo through the entire bracket. For the FIP, which is pursuing an Olympic inclusion bid with active institutional backing, performances at multi-sport events of this scale carry meaning well beyond the medals. Padel now counts approximately 19 million players globally and more than 58,000 courts worldwide — numbers that underpin the sport's case at every governing-body meeting.

The Bigger Stage

This week in Taranto is the first time padel athletes have competed under a national flag at a Mediterranean Games. For players more accustomed to the professional Premier Padel or FIP Gold circuits, the collective dimension adds a layer of motivation that prize money alone cannot replicate. Several of the top-ranked professionals competing here — including Orsi, Dal Pozzo, and members of the Spanish squad — are balancing preparations for the upcoming Comunidad de Madrid Premier Padel P1 (starting August 29) with the demands of national-team competition.

The first whistle at the Parco Salinella sounds at 10:00 CEST on Saturday August 22, with men's and women's first-round matches scheduled throughout the day.