From the APPT to the Asian Games: Familiar Faces Across National Lines

The flags have changed, but several faces at the Asian Games are familiar from the Asia Pacific Padel Tour. Players representing different countries in Nagoya have already shared courts across the regional circuit.

Thailand’s Arnav Rawal, Stefano Mocciola, Natalie Narkprasert and Dares Srirungreang all appeared at July’s APPT event in Pattaya. At Aichi-Nagoya, the same quartet arrived as a national delegation.

Opponents with a shared history

The connection extends to the Philippines and Malaysia. Jason Lapidus and Argil Canizares met Aidan Yunus and Christian Chin at the APPT’s September event in Singapore before their Asian Games campaigns.

Japan’s Kazuki Tomita and Nasa Hatakeyama also bring tour experience, having played the APPT in Tokyo in 2025.

For followers of regional padel, a national-team draw can therefore contain names first encountered at a club tournament in another country.

A new setting for familiar players

Tour appearances are part of these players’ competitive histories. They do not explain national selection on their own or predict the outcome of a Games match.

They do show a circuit connecting careers across borders. Nagoya gives those careers a new setting, with regional opponents now playing beneath national flags.