- Six prestigious padel clubs host the country’s first Nationals Padel Tournament from September 5 to 22
- Organised by Matchspot, the UAE’s first padel tournament exclusively for the nationals sees more than 100 participating teams
- Khalid Al Shamsi: The tournament will promote padel as the UAE’s preferred racquet sport while building a strong community of players and fans
- The tournament comes as part of several tournaments organised in the country following the UAEPA’s announcement of a new annual tournament structure for strengthening the sport within the country
Dubai: Six of the UAE’s most prestigious padel clubs are hosting the country’s first Nationals Padel Tournament from September 5 to 22, 2021.
Participating clubs include Padel Point, Let’s Padel Academy, The Alley, Padel Corner, Padel Space and Padel Beach RAK. Countrywide venues of these six clubs are hosting matches for all stages of the tournament, including the qualifying rounds, the round of 16, and quarter- and semi-finals. Qualifying rounds are being played between Sunday, September 5 and Thursday, September 9, 2021.
Main-draw action will start on Saturday, September 18, 2021, and finals are scheduled to be played on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, at Padel Point, Sharjah.
Khalid Al Shamsi, the Founder and CEO of Padel Point, said the primary objective of the Nationals Padel Tournament is to promote padel as the UAE’s preferred racquet sport while building a strong community of players and fans. The tournament is an opportunity for individual enthusiasts and fans of the sport to connect and socialise in a competitive yet collaborative environment.
He added that the Nationals Padel Tournament comes as a result of the vision of the country’s leaders who continue to promote and provide support for all sports and to enhance the UAE’s position as a global hub for sporting excellence.
“Sports not only leads to healthy competition but also helps engender sporting spirit and promotes positivity and happiness among individuals and all members of the community. Tournaments like this contribute to a happier, prouder and more connected society, using the power and platform of sport to inspire positive change,” said Al Shamsi.
Organised by Matchspot, the Nationals Padel Tournament comes as part of several tournaments organised in the country following the UAEPA’s announcement of a new annual tournament structure for strengthening the sport within the country. Announced by Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, President of UAEPA, the fresh structure ensures a proper direction for padel tennis, and also sets up a unified and common goal towards playing windows that is expected to supercharge the game, especially at the grassroots level.
Underscoring its commitment to increase competition, commercial and fan engagement opportunities while raising competitiveness of padel tennis on the road to an expanded seasonal calendar, the new competition structure encourages a regular string of tournaments with the involvement of clubs and local athletes.
The Nationals Padel Tournament is sponsored by Simple, The Padelers, Absolute Zero, and Padel It. Winners will be awarded a trophy and Dh5,000 in cash prizes. Runners-up will receive medals and Dh2,500 in cash.
Padel is a racquet sport, typically played in doubles on an enclosed court roughly one-third the size of a tennis court. Scoring is similar to regular tennis and the same balls are used but with padel is little less intense. The main difference is that a padel court has walls and the ball can be played off the walls (as in the game of squash). Unlike regular tennis, padel uses solid, stringless racquets and the height of the ball being served must be at or below the waist level. A match is normally a best-of-three sets and most of the rules governing the sport are similar to those followed in tennis.
