Taranto Super Friday: Three Gold Medal Finals Decide Padel History

Friday 28 August 2026 is stamped in padel history before the first ball is even struck. At Parco Mediterraneo Salinella in Taranto, the XX Mediterranean Games crowns its inaugural padel champions across all three disciplines: women's doubles, men's doubles and mixed doubles. No previous edition of the Games has awarded a padel medal. Today, three will be handed out.

The day — already dubbed "Super Friday" by organisers — opens with the bronze-medal matches, then builds to the three finals that will settle who stands on the top step of a podium padel has never occupied at this level. Eurovision Sport carries every match live to 244 countries and territories, a broadcast footprint that underlines just how far the sport has travelled from its Acapulco origins.

An All-Spanish Women's Final: Gold Already Confirmed

Regardless of the score, Spain lifts the women's gold medal today. Patty Llaguno and Lucía Sainz — both former world number ones — face compatriots Jimena Velasco and Nuria Rodríguez in the first all-Spanish final in Mediterranean Games padel history. In the semi-finals, Llaguno and Sainz dismantled Italy's Carolina Orsi and Giorgia Marchetti 6–3, 6–4, converting a crucial break at 3–2 in the opening set and again at 3–3 in the second. Velasco and Rodríguez were even more clinical, routing Portugal's Sofia Araújo and Ana Catarina Nogueira 6–2, 6–1. Neither Spanish pair has surrendered a set throughout the entire tournament.

Spain vs. Italy: The Men's Battle for Gold

The men's final pits José Antonio Diestro and David Gala of Spain against Italy's Flavio Abbate and Álvaro Montiel. Diestro and Gala — seeded second and defending 2025 European champions — defeated Portugal's Deus brothers in their semi-final to book their place. Abbate and Montiel, the third seeds, had earlier eliminated France's Dylan Guichard and Bastien Blanqué 6–2, 6–4, guaranteeing Italy at least a silver in the men's draw. The final is a meeting of two of the Mediterranean's deepest padel nations and a contest that will decide whether Spain completes a sweep of the top step or whether the Azzurri claim the sport's first Mediterranean gold on Italian soil.

Italy vs. Portugal in the Mixed Doubles

The mixed doubles final offers one of the most compelling storylines of the entire tournament: Giulia Dal Pozzo and Marco Cassetta of Italy against Portugal's Sofia Araújo and Pedro Araújo. Dal Pozzo and Cassetta reached the final with a commanding 6–4, 6–1 demolition of France's Louise Bahurel and Dylan Guichard. After advancing, Cassetta summed up the mood in the Italian camp: "Objective reached — now let's play it." For Portugal, Sofia Araújo — ranked eighth in the world on the women's tour — joins her brother Pedro in a sibling pairing that has exceeded expectations. Having lost to Spain's Velasco and Rodríguez in the women's semi-finals, Sofia returns to the court within hours chasing an entirely different medal.

Across all three events, 88 athletes from 18 nations have competed since 22 August. The start lists have included active Premier Padel and FIP tour professionals, lending the competition a weight that goes beyond the usual multi-sport format. Semifinals on Thursday night confirmed the finalists — and created a draw in which Italy has two chances at gold, Spain has guaranteed at least two medals, and Portugal can still return home with hardware in the mixed. Bronze-medal matches begin in the morning session; the three gold-medal finals follow in the afternoon, closing padel's debut Mediterranean chapter on the Adriatic coast.