UAE’s young talents to rub shoulders with top professionals at NAS Padel C’ship

The UAE’s best young padel tennis talents will be rubbing shoulders with the sport’s top professionals at next month’s Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament as the organisers have added an International Pedal Federation (FIP) tournament to this year’s Dhs199,000 championship, which will take place at Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex’s Padel Arena from April 14 to April 27.

The FIP Stars tournament will be an internationally ranked event regulated by the International Padel Federation with a prize purse of Dhs45,000, which will be distributed as per International Pedal Federation system.

Registration for the FIP Stars will be managed through the official website of FIP - www.padelfip.com – and the world’s top professional players with A-Level skills are expected to participate. The qualifying rounds of the FIP Stars will take place from April 8-10 and 16 pairs will progress to the main draw which is scheduled from April 14-25.

The presence of top-ranked international pros will be a huge boost for the sport in UAE and provide the UAE’s padel players – both Emiratis and residents – with an opportunity to watch and learn from the best.

UAE’s local contingent of padel talents will be competing in three different categories for a hefty prize purse of Dhs154,000, which will be available to the top-three finishers of each category.

Local male participants – Emiratis and residents – with A-Level and B-Level skills (locally ranked) be eligible to participate in the UAEPA (UAE Padel Association) Gold Category-Men, which boasts a total prize-purse of Dhs70,000 with the winners receiving Dhs30,000 and the runners-up Dhs24,000, while Dhs16,000 will be given for third place.

The other two categories for local competitors, open to both Emiratis and residents, are UAEPA Bronze for Men and UAE Bronze for Women, where the winners will receive Dhs20,000 each, runners-up Dhs15,000 and third-placed Dhs7,000.

The UAEPA Bronze Category for Men is open to Emiratis and UAE residents with C-Level skills (locally ranked), while women with Level-B and Level-C skills only are eligible to participate in the UAEPA Bronze Category for Women.

The pre-qualifying matches for the UAEPA categories will take place in the second week of April, and the main draw will take place during the Holy Month of Ramadan from April 14-27. Sixteen pairs will progress to the main draw from the Gold Category and Men’s Bronze Category qualifiers, while the Women’s Bronze Category will feature eight pair in the main draw.

The Championship will follow a knockout format, and the matches will be decided in best-of-three sets, with a tie-break at 6-6.

All participants must take PCR test for COVID-19 and submit proof of a negative result to the organizing committee before every match. The result of the PCR test is valid for 48 hours, starting from the issuing date.

All participants, except those taking part in the FIP Stars tournament, will have to bring their original Emirates ID (for Expats the residence VISA must have been issued before 1/1/2021), and sign a statement of health and physical fitness. Registration for the 2021 NAS Padel Championship is open until April 5.