Dubai serves another ace with inaugural Dubai Padel Cup

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Dubai’s newest mega sporting event, the inaugural Dubai Padel Cup – an inclusive month-long padel tennis fiesta featuring exhibition matches with the world’s leading professionals and amateur competitions open to the racquet-wielding public — is poised to elevate the city as the Middle East’s undisputed padel capital.

A headline event of this year’s Dubai Fitness Challenge, which runs From Oct.29 to Nov.27, the four-week Dubai Padel Cup will bring action to the Emirates for the first time during three days of action-packed exhibition matches on a purpose-built court in the shadows of Dubai’s iconic Museum of the Future and the Jumeirah Emirates Towers from Nov.2-4.

World number one Juan Lebron Chincoa is set to lead a top-ranked international field that includes Fernando Belasteguin (world no. 6), Pablo Lima (8), Luciano Capra (14), Javier Arturo Coello (17), Garrido Gómez (18), Miguel Lamperti (20), Adrián Allemandi (22), Juan Martín Díaz (26), Jorge Nieto Ruiz (21), Juan Mieres Petruf (56), Sergio Icardo Alcorisa (114), and more. The two-person doubles teams will play four matches on each of the first two days, before finals on 4th November. Seats will be available for purchase on the Platinumlist website.

“I’m beyond excited to be heading back to Dubai for the first Dubai Padel Cup,” said Chincoa. “I’ve seen the rapid growth of the sport on my previous visits and as we have seen with Dubai’s hosting of Expo, we know the city can do anything. Dubai and padel are a perfect fit. The people of Dubai are playing more and more padel, and Dubai can help padel grow even more on the world stage – we look forward to growing the game here in the Emirates and around the world,” added the 26-year-old Spaniard.

With Dubai Fitness Challenge launched by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, to encourage the public to pursue active and healthy lifestyles, the Dubai Padel Cup will also feature a knockout league for amateur female and male players of C and C+ ability and a tournament for amateur male players of A and B ability.

Amateur league and tournament clashes will unfold at several Dubai-based padel clubs. World Padel Academy (WPA), one of the city’s leading padel club franchises, hosts the male-only tournament’s quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals for A and B categories.

“The Dubai Padel Cup supports the vision of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to establish Dubai as a global padel destination and enhance the game’s stunning popularity surge across the UAE,” said Ahmed Hamada, Co-Founder, Dubai Padel Cup.

“By combining exhibition matches with the world’s best players and the first city-wide tournaments for amateurs of all abilities, the Dubai Padel Cup will showcase Dubai’s ability to host world-class sporting events, encourage active lifestyles and accelerate participation in the game at all levels. We want Dubai to be a global home of padel – and we want to have fun doing it.”