Team USA captured the 2026 World Cup title, beating Vietnam in the final.
Pickleball World Cup
We have generally not covered the Pickleball World Cup in this space in the past for one primary reason: the leading pros in the sport were precluded from participating.
However, as the sport expands globally, as we see multiple countries around the globe starting to field legitimately competitive teams, and on the heels of a recent partnership announcement between Pickleball Inc. and the World Cup’s organizers Hercilio Cabieses and Miranda Cabieses which will allow PPA signed pros to compete in this event starting next year, it is now time to start giving the event some attention. So, in the wake of the most recently competed competition in De Nang, Vietnam, here’s a quick recap of the five Open divisions and the overall World Cup team competition.
World Cup Team Competition
No fewer than 66 countries fielded a team in this competition. The countries were divided into groups of four for the round robin portion. Matches were competed in a best of 7 format, first team to 4 winning. They played, in order, Gender doubles (M and F) and two rounds of Mixed, then two rounds of Singles (M and F). If at that point the match was tied, a “Final Battle” of DreamBreaker-style bursts of four singles points decided the match.
The top 8 seeded countries heading into the group stage were:
- Vietnam, led by now-familiar names such as Quang Duong, Huang Nam Ly, and Phuc Huynh.
- USA, led by a slew of the top APP players at present, including Jack Munro, Kat Stewart, Bobbi Oshiro, and Richard Livornese.
- France, led by the recently UPA separated Jay Devilliers.
- England, led by APP’s career medal leader Megan Fudge
- Spain, led by Glauka (Lane) Carvajal, Mauro Sanchez, and Richmond-based pro Jhonattan Medina Alvarez.
- Japan, led by Rija Fujiawara
- India, led by Harsh Mehta
- Australia, packed with familiar names such as Harrison Brown, Selina Turuljia, Nicola Schoeman, and Sarah Burr.
There were not too many upsets in the group stage, perhaps China finishing 2nd to Portugal in Group D, Chinese Taipei failing to win Group G, or the Netherlands (led by top Australia-based pro Roos van Reek) falling to New Zealand in Group L, but the two top finishing teams from each group advanced to the knockout Rounds of 32.
There, the top 8 seeds advanced into the quarters with one exception; Hong Kong (led by international gold medal machine Hong kit Wong) took out Spain as a No. 12 seed to get to the quarters. They didn’t stop there, upsetting 3rd seeded France as well to make the semis.
The top seeds Vietnam, after surviving two close matches over the Netherlands and Australia, blanked No. 6 Japan 4-0 in one semi, while team USA cruised past Hong Kong 4-0 to setup a final between the two top seeds. There, the APP’s best outclassed Vietnam’s stars 4-0 to sweep the World Cup title for team USA and give them a repeat victory after their 2025 triumph in Fort Lauderdale. Hong Kong beat Japan in a Final Battle for 3rd place.
Gold: USA. Silver: Vietnam. Bronze: Hong Kong.
In addition to the team competition (or correctly, in the days leading up to the team competition), the World Cup also held individual team competitions for the five primary disciplines of the sport. These competitions were not country-pair limited; doubles teams could be comprised of players from different countries. Furthermore, these draws did not have to be comprised of players who were on the official World Cup team rosters, making for solid pro-level competitions. Here’s a quick recap of those draws. These matches were played with rally scoring to move the games along, two out of three games to 15.
Men’s Pro Singles Recap
To little surprise, the Men’s Singles draw featured the biggest upsets, thanks to the global parity we see in that discipline in particular. Top seed Ronan Camron was upset in the quarters by Bulgarian Martin Stanchev, who then subsequently fell to Vietnamese singles star Phuc Huynh in the top semis. In an all Vietnam semi from the bottom half, Nam Ly Hoang crushed a cramping Quang Duong 8,2 to setup an all Vietnam final. There, Hoang topped Huynh in three for the gold. Camron salvaged the bronze, beating fellow American William Sobek in the consolation final.
Women’s Pro Singles Recap
Top seed Kat Stewart topped Bobbi Oshiro in an all USA semis from the top half. In the bottom half, No. 3 seed Roos van Reek took advantage of an early upset of 2nd seeded Japanese star Rika Fujiawara to ease into the finals, topping the surprise American semi finalist Kelsey Laurentine in the bottom semi. In the final, Stewart played a complete game to beat van Reek 4,9 for the gold.
Hats off to Aaliya ebrahim from India and Virvienica Isearis Reyes Bejosano from the Philippines, who took out the losing semi finalists to meet for the Bronze and put there names on the map.
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
A massive, wide-open Mixed draw had the tone set early when top seeds Camron & Steward were taken out by the unheralded team of Pearl Amalsadiwala & Anh Gia Huy Nguyen. This opened up the top half for the 4th seeded Jack Munro & Nicola Schoeman, who took out Mexico’s Daniel De la Rosa & Domenika Turkovic (Hungary) in the top semi. The bottom half came down to frequent Asian tour competitors Roos Van Reek / Ly Hoang Nam , who beat the all-South Korean team of Eunggwon Kim & Mihae Kwon in the bottom semi. In the final, Munro & Schoeman both secured double golds for the competition, topping van Reek & Nam in two.
Men’s Pro Doubles Recap
The Men’s doubles draw was dominated by traveling Americans in the top half, and by Vietnamese stars from the bottom half. In one semi, top seeds Jack Munro & Richard Livornese took out DeHeart & Lane, while from the bottom half Nam Ly Hoang & Hung Anh Nguyen took out Quang Duong & Harsh Mehta. In the final. Munro & Livornese won two close matches for the gold 15-12, 15-13.
Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
The back-half of the Women’s pro doubles draw featured a slew of top international women’s pros facing off. In the top semi, the all-Aussie pair of Selina Turulja / Nicola Schoeman took out Australia-based Roos Van Reek and US-based Vivian Glozman in three. In an all APP pro semi on the bottom half, Domenika Turkovic & Kat Stewart squeaked out a 3-game thriller against Bobbi Oshiro & Shelby Bates. I the final, the Aussies won out easily, winning 15-7, 15-8 for the gold. van Reek & Glozman salvaged the bronze in the consolation bracket.
That’s it for the 2026 World Cup. I’m creating a new tab on the Pickleball Medal Tracker for the World Cup results and will build them backwards for prior iterations ahead of the 2027 and subsequent iterations.
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