Vietnam's 106 golds put it 10 times ahead of runner-up at Pickleball World Cup

After five days, Vietnam has built a commanding lead in the medal standings, with 106 golds among its 244 medals.

South Korea is in second place, followed by the United States with nine gold medals.

Vietnam's gold-medal haul is exactly 10 times that of South Korea and equals the combined number of golds won by all the other delegations.

The country's dominance was already evident before the tournament's official opening on September 2, with Vietnam pulling well ahead of the other 64 delegations in the medal standings.

The tournament features numerous competitions beyond the professional category, providing opportunities for the wider pickleball community to participate. Nearly 5,000 athletes have registered for the event.

The National category alone features 156 teams competing in five groups: Open, Senior, Master, Junior and Kids.

The Open group has 64 teams, while Senior has 40, Master 20, Junior 16 and Kids 16.

Alongside the National category, the Individual category includes events for athletes across different levels and backgrounds, from recreational players competing according to skill level to professionals, juniors, businesspeople and celebrities.

Vietnam's large contingent of athletes competing across different age groups, skill levels and events has contributed to its commanding position on the medal table.

A member of the Da Nang Badminton Federation told Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper that, unlike sports with long-established histories, pickleball has only experienced rapid growth in recent years.

As a result, the sport has different organizational structures in different countries. Some have established national federations, while others have yet to form one or have several organizations involved in its administration.

"Even Vietnam, one of the Asian countries where the sport is considered to be developing particularly rapidly, only established the Vietnam Pickleball Federation a few months ago," the federation member said.

The 2026 Heineken Pickleball World Cup should therefore be viewed as a major effort by Da Nang to create a festival atmosphere, attract international visitors and promote the city through sports tourism, rather than placing too much emphasis on the country's overwhelming lead in the medal standings.

Nearly 5,000 athletes compete in 8,500 matches

The 2026 Pickleball World Cup has attracted nearly 5,000 athletes representing nearly 80 countries and territories, according to organizers.

The event is a significant expansion from previous editions and is among the largest international pickleball events ever held, with competitions taking place across seven venue clusters in Da Nang from August 30 to September 6.

Nearly 8,500 matches are being played throughout the tournament, with an average of around 1,000 matches being played each day.