Pakistan, Sept. 29 -- Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Carlos Alcaraz are all obsessed with it, and on Monday the fast-growing racquet sport of padel made its Asian Games debut with officials hoping a place at the Olympics is getting closer.

Padel, a cross between tennis and squash on courts surrounded by glass walls, is played by an estimated 38 million people and has ambitions to become a major global sport.

It took another step towards that goal at the Asian Games in Nagoya after being added to the continent's biggest sporting spectacular as a medal event.

After winning her opening match with doubles partner Danna Abad, Philippines player Joshea Malazarte told AFP: "Padel in Europe is really big and it has just started here, so w...