John Franklin Kennedy Caacbay

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padel

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

MANILA – Team Philippines is confident of its chances to defend its crown in the 2026 Asia Pacific Padel Cup, as the tournament officially kicked off on Thursday in Play Padel McKinley. Following a dominant run in the 2025 edition in Malysia, the Philippines looks to continue the momentum and bank on home court advantage during its hosting the third edition of the tournament.This year&#x27;s edition will feature ten teams from seven countries competing in the professional and amateur divisions.Team Philippines Pro Team head coach Bryan Casao said the players are more than ready as they have been gearing up to compete ever since they won the title in Malaysia back last September.&quot;We&#x27;ve been preparing for this like all year round that&#x27;s number one and this year it&#x27;s gonna be I would say it&#x27;s a little bit pressure because we&#x27;re playing in our home country. But we will use this pressure to of course showcase what the current teams is going to do and going to perform in this weekend&#x27;s event,&quot; Casao said during the press conference on Thursday.&quot;Up until yesterday I get to have a last see and last chance of playing with the team how&#x27;s the team is doing and I would say that I&#x27;m very confident enough that we will play our best this this weekend,&quot; he added.After winning the title on foreign soil, Casao said playing in front of a home crowd and home court will bring more confidence in the team.&quot;Well now I just always remind the team to be hungry for more and at the same time to stay excited because number one this is our first time to play like in this kind of cup that we&#x27;re representing our country and at the same time we feel more comfortable of course the whole team is here,&quot; he said.&quot;Our team is very excited to let our community to you guys to everyone that we have this kind of level existing is here in the country,&quot; Casao shared.As for team captain LA Cañizares, he reminded his fellow athletes to level up their game especially with each country developing its padel program. &quot;I always tell my team since last year now okay since we were the champions we cannot relax because this most of the countries will improve from last year up to now so having a being the host here is also a pressure and it&#x27;s also an honor for us to play here,&quot; he said.Casao said the APPC is part of their preparations for the 2026 Asian Games, where padel will make its debut as a full-fledged medal sport in the continental meet.&quot;This is also part of our preparation for the Asian Games so that is one of our big events here for our team, so it gives more motivation as well to our professional team,&quot; he said.The country&#x27;s hosting of the APPC introduces an amateur division for the first time.Team Philippines Amateur Team head coach Eric Marquez said having an amateur division gives players a chance to represent the country, while showcasing their skills.&quot;Basically, our goal from the start is to build a culture of hard work, a culture of trust and continuous improvement because most of these players started as recreational players and now they have the chance to represent the Philippines on an international stage,&quot; he shared. &quot;So yeah, our goal is to perform and whatever the result is I just want the players to compete with pride and yeah I hope we get it,&quot; Marquez added.For Padel Pilipinas, they believe this will help identify the level of amateurs in the region where the sport continues to grow.<div> </div><div>BOOSTING PADEL IN PH</div>With the country&#x27;s hosting of the tournament underway, Padel Pilipinas seeks to help widen the reach of the sport especially in the grassroots level outside Metro Manila. The federation cited the young players they trained in Talisay, Cebu have yielded results, winning the national tournament they hosted.&quot;So that only proves that with the right discipline, with the right training and with the right opportunity, people and the students or the youth can actually be trained into becoming champions,&quot; Padel Pilipinas Executive Director Atty. Jacqueline Gan-Cristobal said.&quot;What an opportunity it is for our Filipino athletes and we&#x27;re just so excited because of what we&#x27;re doing in our grassroots program to see these students eventually transform into our national athletes for paddle to represent the Philippines,&quot; she added.Padel Pilipinas said more public courts are being built across the country like in Talisay, Cebu, Ormoc, Leyte, La Union and Batangas to make the sport more accessible.&quot;We&#x27;re actually very happy and proud that in the Philippines alone not in the Asia-Pacific, we&#x27;re experiencing how fast it&#x27;s actually growing. Since we are also in charge with regulating our private and public padel courts, we see that private courts are being built instantaneously,&quot; she said.&quot;And then we also see that more players are drawn to playing padel not only as an interest or a hobby but as a competitive sport,&quot; Gan-Cristobal added.Aside from infrastructure, the federation is making sure to invest in coaches from the regions to ensure they can sustain the grassroots program.Padel Pilipinas held an intensive training camp with coaches from provinces like Cebu, Bohol, with more clinics and tournaments lined up later in the year.&quot;Hindi maggro-grow ang sport kung walang mga coaches. Technically, the kids wouldn&#x27;t learn without a teacher. And a teacher, lagi nga nalang sinasabi, starts from home with our parents and outside their homes are these coaches,&quot; Casao said.&quot;It&#x27;s really really important for us na magkaroon tayo ng mga local coaches because sila ang pinakamalapit na tao na magturo sa ating kabataan, not just the kids, but for all of you guys,&quot; he added.With padel set to make its debut in the 2026 Asian Games in September, the local federation is confident this will encourage players to pursue the sport professionally.&quot;Let&#x27;s face the reality that not all sports have opportunity to be continued after the universities because they don&#x27;t have tournaments to join. They also cannot play professionally because there&#x27;s no avenue for that. But now that padel is part of a medal sport in Asian Games, which is an international multi-sports major event, it now gives them hope that they now have a career path that they can pursue,&quot; Gan-Cristobal said.&quot;They can continue doing their passion and their love for sport while at the same time earning professionally because they can do this as professional players. And at the same time, if they get the opportunity to be part of the national team, they will also be supported by the national government as they represent the country in the international stage,&quot; she added.The 2026 Asia Pacific Padel Cup will run from June 25 to 28 in Play Padel McKinley.

The Asia Pacific Padel Cup (APPC) 2026 officially opened Thursday, marking the start of four days of competition featuring top players of the sport in the region.

The Asia Pacific Padel Cup (APPC) 2026 officially opened Thursday, marking the start of four days of competition featuring top players of the sport in the region.

Team PH aims to defend crown as Asia Pacific Padel Cup kicks off in Taguig

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Team PH aims to defend crown as Asia Pacific Padel Cup kicks off in Taguig

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 26, 2026 05:52 PM PHT

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Updated June 26, 2026 08:32 PM PHT

Read More:

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Philippine Olympic Committee

Philippine Sports Commission

Asia Pacific Padel Cup 2026

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