UAE Wild Card Championship will serve as build up event for World Padel Tour.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The UAE Padel Association announced its coordination with sports councils in various emirates of the country to launch a national qualifying padel tournament, in January and February of this year.

Called the UAE Wild Card Championship, the event will serve as a build up for the World Padel Tour. This collaboration follows from the announcement that Abu Dhabi will host the World Padel Tour - Modon Abu Dhabi Padel Master at Bab Al Nojoum on Hudayriyat Island from February 21 – 26.

The UAE Wild Card Championship is expected to attract over 200 advanced padel teams from the UAE and the GCC. The championship will feature six padel tournaments in which finalists from each tournament will earn ‘wild card’ entries to compete in the pre-qualification round of the World Padel Tour’s “Modon Abu Dhabi Padel Master”.

In this regard, Saeed M Al Marri, Secretary General of UAE Padel Association, said: “The UAE Padel Association endeavours to consolidate the UAE’s position as a global centre of padel and expand the sport within the country and beyond. Coordinating with the sports councils of the country, is in line with many of our initiatives to achieve these goals.

Padel is gaining popularity within the UAE’s sports sector thanks to the efforts of various establishments, councils, and sports agencies in expanding its practice within communities and amongst the youth in particular.

“With this in mind, we aim to support the widest segment of local padel players and enable them to assume prestigious global ranks through hosting more regional and international tournaments in the UAE.

“Organizing this national padel tournament will undoubtedly contribute significantly to the realization of these ambitions.

“We are pleased to work closely with the sports councils in the various emirates to provide local padel teams the opportunity to benefit from Abu Dhabi’s hosting of the number one professional padel circuit worldwide, the “World Padel Tour - Modon Abu Dhabi Padel Master”.

There is no doubt that providing the citizens and residents of the UAE, and the players from the GCC who have official rankings from their local padel associations in their countries, the opportunity to participate in this tournament will contribute to achieving the goals of the UAE Padel Association of further developing the sport and its players as well as attaining achievements that raise the country’s standing within international padel arenas,” Marri added.

It is worth noting that the UAE Padel Association is currently finalizing discussions with Emirates Post Group to sponsor the national padel tournaments towards the World Padel Tour - Abu Dhabi Padel Master 2023, and details of this sponsorship are expected to be announced later this week.