Padel

 

 HCM CITY — The 2025 Padel Vệt Nam Open has kicked off with many international players competing in its first edition in HCM City. 

Nearly 100 athletes, 90 per cent of them are foreigners from France, Spain, Denmark, Brazil, Columbia and South Africa, take part in five categories of men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles for amateurs and pros. The finals are scheduled on December 21.

The event, known as the Vietravel Cup 2025, is organised under rules of the International Padel Federation (FIP) with a total of VNĐ68 million bonus up for grabs along with gifts and other donations from sponsors.

“The Việt Nam Open is a playing ground for both local and international players. It is expected to spread this new sport in the community," said Nguyễn Hồng Sơn, general secretary of the Việt Nam Tennis Federation (VTF).

"In ASEAN, padel has strongly developed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. VTF sets plan to develop padel nationwide and build a national annual championship before taking part in the regional and continental competition in the near future especially padel has become an official sport in the Asian Games 2026."

Padel is a racket-based ball sport that could be described as a mixture of squash and tennis. It is played within an enclosed space like squash but shares similarities with tennis.

Padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world in terms of the number of players. According to FIP, padel is now played by around 25 million people across the globe, with the game enormously popular at a grassroots and professional level in countries such as Mexico, Argentina and Spain in courts in over 90 countries.

“Our accompaniment with the Open shows our contribution to developing new sports in Việt Nam, especially the young and rapidly growing sports like padel," said Phạm Hoàng Hưng, Vietravel representative.

"Vietravel hopes the tournament will become an annual event, attracting a large number of international athletes, thereby promoting the image of Vietnamese tourism and sports to the region and the world."

According to the organising committee, the tournament marks a historic milestone as it is the first time padel, which has been played in Việt Nam for several years, has been organised under the national competition system, thereby placing a landmark for the Vietnamese padel movement on the world sports map. VNS