Bek-Babic clinch NAS Padel Championship crown

Josipa Bek and Selma Babic rallied from a set down to beat Karina Simeonova Lozova and Alessa Belbes in a thrilling Women’s Bronze Category final of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament Padel Championship.

Croatian Bek, a former ITF tennis tour pro, and Babic of Bosnia and Herzegovina fought back after losing the first set to win the second in a tie-break and then cruised through the third for a 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 triumph over their Bulgarian-Filipino opponent. Bek and Babic will take home the winner’s cheque of Dhs20,000, while the runners-up will get Dhs15,000.

The Men’s Gold Category semi-finals also took place on Sunday night, and Martin Noschese-Guillermo Villafane defeated Emilio Misas-Masson Xavier 6-4, 6-4 to book a title-clash with Javier Lopez Garcia-Alexander Farquharson, who defeated Saeed Al Marri-Claudio Bobadilla 6-1, 6-3 in the other semi-final.

More than 700 local and international players are taking part in the NAS Padel Championship, which is offering a total prize purse of Dhs199,000. Three hundred and sixty men had registered for the Men’s Bronze Category, and 86 men for the Golden Category, while 50 ladies registered for the Women’s Bronze Category.

The qualifying tournament for these three categories, which was held between April 8 and 13, witnessed 206 matches from which 32 pairs each have qualified for the Men’s Bronze Category and Golden Category, while 16 pairs have made it to the main draw of the Women’s Bronze Category.

This year’s NAS Padel Championship also features an internationally-ranked International Pedal Federation (FIP) Stars tournament and more than 250 of the world’s top professional players with A-Level skills have already registered for the tournament.

All three events are being organised in compliance with all COVID-19 precautionary measures and protocols, as well as other guidelines issued by relevant authorities.

NAS Sports Tournament have organised a free COVID-19 PCR test for all NAS Run participants at Al Wasl Club on April 26 and 27, between 11am and 5pm.

Organised by Dubai Sports Council (DSC), the NAS Sports Tournament has been one of the top sporting attractions during the Holy Month of Ramadan since 2013, and the eighth season of the Tournament features competitions in two others sports besides padel - running and cycling.

The Tournament kicked off with the NAS Padel Championship on April 14, and will close with the NAS Run, which takes place across two nights with the 10km Race scheduled for April 28, and the 5km for April 29.

Dubai Police, Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai, Dubai Municipality and Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services are the strategic partners for this year’s Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, while Dubai Duty Free, Pocari Sweat and Tecnotree have signed up as sponsors for the 8th season of the Tournament, which is one of the biggest events of its kind in terms of participation and prize money.

Tecnotree are a Finland-headquartered full-stack Business Support System (BSS) provider with more than 40 years of deep domain knowledge, proven delivery and transformation capability across the globe, and speaking about his their partnership with Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, Padma Ravichander, CEO of Tecnotree, said: “We are delighted to support the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament (NAS) during the holy month of Ramadan. Sports participation and keeping active are important in not only keeping our bodies healthy, but also improving our well-being and quality of life, especially during these challenging times.”