„Don’t change the winning formula” - the old saying goes. Well, last year’s World Teqball Championships proved to be the best one to date, so FITEQ decided to organize this year’s competition in Asia, too. For the first time ever, Vietnam will host the largest tournament with high expectations and an even higher number of participants as 221 players signed up for the event, setting a new record.

The mixed doubles category is almost always the most unpredictable category in every competition. The field is usually stacked and there is no dominating force, so it is always hard to guess not only the eventual winners but the medallists, too.

WTCH24 will not be different as many contenders, former world championship medallists and teams have come together this year.

Let’s start with the defending champions, Thailand’s Suphawadi Wongkhamchan/Phakpong Dejaroen. They have had a successful 2024 so far, collecting four medals at the Teqball World Series and winning gold in Qingdao.

Brazil’s Vania Moraes da Cruz and Leonardo Lindoso de Almeida have been waiting for their breakthrough after finishing 2nd three times in a row, but it is hard to say anything about their shape as they took part in fewer major tournaments in 2024: they won one silver in Tulsa but did not make the top 8 in Madrid.

Gabriella Kota/Balazs Katz edged out their teammates and last year’s bronze medallists Krisztina Acs/Csaba Banyik at the Hungarian qualifiers, but because of the former’s suspension, Acs will play alongside Katz, creating a new tandem that could lack chemistry but has tremendous potential.

Alicja Bartnicka/Marek Pokwap from Poland had an incredible run in 2023 and were just barely left off the podium, but their performance in 2024 (two medals from the Teqball World Series) indicates that they are capable of taking another step forward.

Kinga Barabasi/Apor Gyorgydeak (ROU) formed a superteam in 2024 and it has been productive, to say the least. Their medal record is fabulous, winning two TWS events and going undefeated in the past two months! Serbians Maja Umicevic and Nikola Mitro won bronze together in 2019 and finished fourth three years later, so they are familiar with situations where the stakes are high.

Then we have Amelie Julian/Hugo Rabeux from France who finished in the top 5 seven times out of the eight competitions they started at in 2024, so let’s segue into the ‘units that can cause surprise’ category.

Gabriela Zachova/Matej Kubovy (CZE), Mira Faeno Dahlmann/Magnus Aagard Madsen (DEN), Viorica Tonu/Daniel Macovei (MLD), Manuela Parente/Luis Santos (POR), Ekaterina Poteshkina/Kirill Zemskov (RTA), Silvia Ferrer Garcia/Adrian Delgado (ESP), Norhan Ayari/Youssef Sahli (TUN), Iryna Dubytska/Oleh Usychenko (UKR) and Kindall Kaufman/Dennis Correia (USA) can all turn some heads if they bring their A-game to Ho Chi Minh City.

The locals also have a team to support as Tran Van Khoa and Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai will represent Vietnam in this category.

The Teqball World Championships 2024 starts on 4th December, the games will be played at Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Plaza in Ho Chi Minh City