The first pickleball World Cup held in Asia closed on September 6 in Da Nang, Vietnam. In the final of the National Open, which decides the team title between countries, the United States beat host Vietnam 4-0 to take the championship. Japan had lost 0-4 to that same Vietnam in the previous day's semifinal, ending a week of competition in the world's top four.81カ国規模で開幕したダナン大会closed on its final day with the host nation as runner-up and Japan into the semifinals.
US beat host Vietnam 4-0 for the team title
The opponent in the final was host Vietnam, carried by loud home support. Tien Son Sports Complex was full, and with chants for the home side coming from all four sides of the court, the United States stacked up games calmly.
The National Open team event is decided over four matches: women's doubles, men's doubles and two mixed doubles. In the final the United States took all four and never let Vietnam in. They won women's doubles 21-17, men's doubles 21-10 and the two mixed doubles 21-16 and 21-14, sweeping their way to the team title. Vietnam, chasing gold at home, finished with silver.
The 21-10 margin in men's doubles was the match that showed the host nation's leading pair, carrying the hopes of the crowd, still could not reach the depth of the United States.
Japan lost 0-4 to Vietnam in the semifinal and finished among the world's last four
Japan met that same Vietnam in the semifinal. In the National Open semifinal on September 5, Japan lost 0-4. Vietnam took all four matches and swept into the final.
On the scoreline alone it was a clean defeat, but simply reaching this stage put Japan somewhere it had never been. This was the first time Japan had made the world's final four at the national-team World Cup. Alongside the United States and Vietnam in the final, and Hong Kong, who lost to the United States in the other semifinal, Japan was one of the last four countries left in the team event.
The national team event set the tone of the World Cup
The pickleball World Cup is a different animal from individual prize-money circuits such as the PPA Tour or the APP Tour. Each country gathers its marquee players and competes under its own flag. The National division had Open, Senior, Master, Junior and Kids brackets, with 156 teams competing by age group.
At the top of that ladder sits the National Open, where countries can field their strongest lineup with no age limit. The semifinal place Japan reached came in the deepest bracket of them all. In individual play one standout can decide the outcome, but in a team event the depth needed to get through four matches shows up directly in the standings. The United States won without dropping a match, and the gap in depth, bench included, is behind that.
81 countries, more than 5,000 players and two Guinness records
The tournament ran from August 30 to September 6 across several venues in Da Nang, including the Tien Son Sports Complex and the Tuyen Son Sports Village. Heineken came on as title sponsor, and more than 5,000 players from 81 countries and regions took part.
The scale made it into the record books. Guinness World Records officially certified two marks: the pickleball tournament with the most participating countries and regions, and the most expensive winner's trophy. The first edition held in Asia doubled as a picture of how far the sport has spread internationally. Running several venues across a city at once is an operational scale that domestic tournaments in Japan have yet to experience.
Vietnam's depth came from former tennis players joining in
The strength Vietnam showed in stopping Japan in the semifinal and pushing the United States in the final rests on players who switched from other sports. Ly Hoang Nam, who played men's doubles in both the semifinal and the final, is a former pro who won the Southeast Asian Games in tennis. The top tier of Vietnamese tennis has moved straight to the paddle and now forms the core of the national team.
In Vietnam,Former tennis players joining the national team one after anothercontinues, and it carries on-court judgment and shot power into the sport in a short space of time. Behind the host nation climbing to silver in front of its home crowd is this influx of converts. The wall Japan ran into in the world's final four was the design of the player supply itself.
What the semifinal run left Japanese pickleball
The 0-4 semifinal scoreline made clear that distance still separates Japan from the very top of the world. Even so, being one of the last four countries in a national team event gives the domestic game a concrete benchmark, because the record now shows which bracket, which opponent and by how many games Japan lost.
Domestically,Yuta Funamizu beats a former world No. 1 in Tachikawaand other moments are starting to appear where top players go toe to toe with the world's best. Individual strength can reach that level, yet lining up four matches in a team format exposed the gap in depth at this tournament. The semifinal was not a destination; it was a result that clarified the task of building a deeper pool of players.
Where Asia stands, seen alongside Hong Kong and India
The four countries left in the National Open semifinals were the United States, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan: one North American power with three Asian countries and regions beside it. The United States beat Hong Kong in the other semifinal, and even among Asian teams the level is starting to even out.
Before the tournament,India named a captain and went after gold, and India was talked about as the opponent that would measure Japan. India did make its presence felt in other brackets such as juniors, but in the Open team event it did not reach the last four. The way the map of power shifts from bracket to bracket also shows that Asian pickleball is growing at different speeds at different levels.
Courts and participation, the gap Japan has to close beyond the semifinals
Reaching the world's final four in a team event means having players across several generations who can be trusted with one of the four matches. That requires places to practice and compete, which comes down to the number of courts and the frequency of tournaments. Behind the deeper rosters of the United States and Vietnam is a wider environment where people can play every day.
In Japan too, permanent courts are opening and municipal taster sessions are spreading, widening the way in. But for national-team-level players to come through across generations, there has to be somewhere to keep working past that entry point, and a build-up of official competition where wins and losses go on the record. The wall Japan saw in Da Nang leads straight to the question of how facilities and tournaments should be rearranged at home.
Somewhere other than Da Nang next time, how far can Japan go
The first World Cup held in Asia ended with the United States taking the team title, host nation Vietnam finishing second and Japan among the world's final four. For Japan it was the tournament where the country put its name in the last four of a national team event for the first time.
The 0-4 semifinal showed that individual strength alone does not reach the top of a team event. Whether Japan can get past Hong Kong or Vietnam and stand in the final at the next edition depends on how much depth can be built over the next few years. How far the courts and tournaments at home can close the distance measured in Da Nang is the question Japanese pickleball will be asked at the next national team event.
Sources:
An ninh Thủ đô「Mỹ vô địch, chủ nhà Việt Nam giành á quân Pickleball World Cup 2026」
Vietnam.vn「Thắng Nhật Bản 4-0, đội tuyển Việt Nam vào chung kết Pickleball World Cup 2026」
Vietnam Plus「Da Nang hosts opening of Pickleball World Cup 2026」
Danang FantastiCity「Heineken Pickleball World Cup 2026 Opens in Da Nang, Setting Two Guinness World Records」
