Saudi para table tennis player Rakan Al-Salmi made a winning start at the 5th Asian Para Games, Aichi-Nagoya 2026, beating Kazakhstan's Ardak Nurmagambetov 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 12-10) in the Class 1 singles group stage at Sky Toyota hall in Nagoya, Japan.

In para badminton, Mahdi Al-Makina beat a player from Hong Kong 2-0 (21-9, 21-5) in the men's singles WH2 category.

Essam Buaiti lost his men's singles WH1 match 0-2 (12-21, 4-21) to Iraq's Mohammed Al-Amshani, and Al-Makina and Buaiti were beaten 0-2 (4-21, 2-21) by an Indian pair in the men's doubles WH1–WH2.

Maryam Al-Muraisel and Zahra Al Tale begin their table tennis campaigns tomorrow: Al-Muraisel faces an Indian opponent, while Al Tale plays a Chinese player and then a Korean player on the same day.

The badminton players also return tomorrow, with Al-Makina facing a Korean opponent and Buaiti meeting the UAE's Jamal Al-Badwawi, before the pair take on Japan's Daiki Kajiwara and Keita Nishimura in the doubles.