Dubai: The UAE is in the process of forming a national squad in padel that will represent the country at international team competitions.
Organised by the International Padel Federation (IPF), the XIIIth World Padel Championships for National Teams 2016 is scheduled to be held in Lisbon, Portugal from November 14-20. But prior to that teams will have to go through qualifiers starting with rounds in Vilnius, Lithuania (July 1-3) and Basel, Switzerland (July 7-9).
The World Padel Championships for National Teams is similar to the Davis Cup competition held in tennis.
Given its associate membership with the IPF, the UAE had been granted permission to participate in the Vilnius qualifier alongside the hosts, The Netherlands, UK and Finland in the first week of next month.
Each national team needs to have at least seven players travelling to the qualifying rounds, failing which their participation will be null and void.
“Most of our players are unavailable during this time, and the best thing would be to set our eyes on qualifying next season,” Saeed Al Marri, General Secretary, UAE Padel Association (UAE PA) told Gulf News.
“We have started small and in a matter of just three years we have made huge strides in padel, first with hosting the WPT Masters and then with the Challenger. I feel the UAE is ready to move a step higher on the global stage,” he added.
