The annual Dubai Padel Cup is set to serve up a month-long fiesta of action involving the world’s fastest-growing racquet sport and provide the UAE’s amateur padel-playing community with a tournament of their own ahead of the showpiece world championships, set to take place simultaneously and featuring the best players on the planet.
Returning for its second edition, the ongoing Dubai Padel Cup will run until Saturday, 27 November 2022, featuring a knockout league for amateur male and female players across beginner, intermediate, and advanced divisions. Six padel clubs throughout the UAE will host the amateur competitions, along with various other community engagement initiatives and fan activations.
Ammar Al Awadhi, Head of Tournaments and Clinics, Dubai Padel Cup
Participants from across the seven emirates are urged to sign up in pairs for the region’s most exhilarating community padel tournament, which will serve to reinforce the city's burgeoning reputation as one of the sport’s global capitals and the epicentre of padel in the Middle East.
With the world’s top-ranked players having recently competed in the Emirate for the sport’s pinnacle event – the DP World Padel Championship 2022 – the organisers of Dubai Padel Cup are foregoing the star-studded exhibition matches of last year to focus on the community.
A headline event of the Dubai Fitness Challenge, the amateur competition was launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, last year to encourage the public to pursue active and healthy lifestyles.
“We are delighted to be bringing back the Dubai Padel Cup for the second consecutive year as part of our commitment to supporting His Highness Sheikh Hamdan’s vision of enhancing the game's popularity throughout the UAE, while encouraging the emirate’s population to live an active lifestyle,” said Ammar Al Awadhi, Head of Tournaments and Clinics for the Dubai Padel Cup.
“This year is already a landmark year for padel in Dubai with the world championships being held in the emirate. We have made certain structural changes to our month-long event format that will encourage more amateur padel players to compete and demonstrate their sporting talents at a time when excitement around the sport will be at fever pitch here in the emirate.”
The four-week competition is expected to draw close to 2,000 participants from more than 20 clubs and will further highlight Dubai's capacity to stage top-tier, inclusive, community sports events, promote active lifestyles, and boost athletic participation across all levels.
This year’s Dubai Padel Cup will also include a series of other tournaments, including the first edition of the Gov Padel Cup, a corporate competition to be contested between Dubai's myriad government entities. For those in the public sector, the event set for 17 until 20 November 2022, provides an intriguing chance to put their racquet prowess to the test.
“Padel is one of the fastest growing sports played by our employees and our customers, so we are thrilled to be continuing our support of the Dubai Padel Cup and part of the ongoing growth of the game across the emirate and the wider UAE,” said Moadh Bukhash, Chief Marketing Officer at Emirates NBD. “Healthy lifestyles play a huge role in fuelling residents’ fitness ambitions and our long-term partnership with Dubai Fitness Challenge galvanizes our commitment to this for our customers and staff.”
A ground-breaking “National and Expat” tournament whereby GCC Nationals and expatriates will pair-up to contest a five-day competition between 23 and 27 November. Meanwhile, in collaboration with Dubai Fitness Challenge, the public can book a free 30-minute padel coaching session across 20 clubs in the country. Open to male and female competitors of all levels and ages, the sessions aim to increase the number of active players in the country. Last year’s Dubai Padel Cup ran 655 free clinics and this year promises even more.
“The Dubai Fitness Challenge is now in its sixth year and is constantly getting bigger,” said Ahmed Al Khaja, CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment. “We are delighted to collaborate with the Dubai Padel Cup once again. Padel is such a fast-growing sport and represents a highly effective and accessible entry point for residents and visitors to start, resume, or simply maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. This year’s Dubai Padel Cup has a stronger focus on the community, so dovetails perfectly with Dubai Fitness Challenge.”
For more information or to register for the tournaments, visit: www.dubaipadelcup.com
