Dubai: Shaikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Padel Association (UAE PA), has hailed the growth of padel in the UAE riding on the popularity of various category competitions held during the annual Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports tournament.
The 5th edition of the NAS Ramadan Sports is scheduled to conclude on Friday with the futsal final. Shaikh Saeed’s Uncle Saeed team managed to dig in deep before winning 2-1 against Team Valencia for the teams’ crown for the third straight year in-a-row.
Matea Jose Juan and German Zunica Garcia defeated Nicolas Suescun and Abdullah Ahli 6-2, 6-2 to give Uncle Saeed a 1-0 lead. But Guillermo Villafane and Fermin Ferreyra fought back with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Sandy Farquharson and Javier Lopez to bring the two teams on level terms. Lopez then teamed up with Garcia for a well-contested 6-4, 7-5 win over Ferreyra and Suescun to seal a tough win.
Shaikh Saeed was joined by Saeed Mohammad Al Marri, General Secretary, UAE PA and Tournament Director Hassan Al Mazroei at the presentation of trophies and medals to the winners of all three categories.
“We are pleased to see this tournament grow along with the standard of competition. We have been getting more teams in this competition and many tennis players stop their tennis activity just to be part of this event,” Shaikh Saeed told Gulf News.
“As an association, we have been doing all we can to popularise padel and get more youngsters to play. The growth has been good as more and more young people turn to this sport. For the first time we have added a padel tennis court at the Dubai Sports World in Dubai World Trade Centre and this will further put padel in the limelight,” he added.
This was the third teams’ title for Uncle Saeed in the three years of the NAS Ramadan Sports Tournament. Last year, the Uncle Saeed team had been stretched for a 2-1 result by the M5 team in this Davis Cup-style competition. “Things are getting tough in this competition and this only shows that the distance between teams is getting narrow,” Shaikh Saeed noted.
Shaikh Saeed said that the NAS Ramadan tournament was an event around which much of the grassroots development of padel takes place. “Things are pretty easy for schools during the month of Ramadan and this is our chance to introduce kids to this sport. This is what makes the NAS padel tournament so special for us,” Shaikh Saeed noted.
“We have competitions for teams, for men in the open category and an exclusive contest for UAE Nationals. For sure, we will continue building around this tournament,” he added.
Earlier in the play-off for third, the SHM Team beat the Shaikh Abdullah Bin Maktoum Team 2-1.
RESULTS
Padel Teams’ Final: Uncle Saeed bt Team Valencia 2-1 (Matea Jose Juan/German Zunica Garcia bt Nicolas Suescun/Abdullah Ahli 6-2, 6-2; Sandy Farquharson/Javier Lopez lost to Guillermo Villafane and Fermin Ferreyra 4-6, 5-7; Javier Lopez/German Zunica Garcia bt Nicolas Suescun/Fermin Ferreyra 6-4, 7-5).
Third Place: SHM Team bt Shaikh Abdullah Bin Maktoum Team 2-1.
