Padel’s top stars to shine in Dubai

Some of the world’s top padel stars, including Argentine greats Hernan ‘Bebe’ Auguste and Mariano Lasaigues, will be in Dubai this week, competing at an international tournament at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Arena.

Organisers of the Nad Al Sheba Ramadan Sports Festival have managed to assemble a star-studded field for the tournament, which began on Sunday, with Auguste, a two-time world champion and winner of more than 100 professional tournaments, and his former doubles partner and current Argentine No 1 Lasaigues headlining the act.

Richard Brooks, the No 1 in England, Portuguese No 1 Vasco Pascoal, the US No 1 John Chun and his American team Ricardo Alcantara, former world junior champions Andoni Bardasco and Gonzalo Perez Rubio, and rising stars Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno are also part of the field.

The field includes players from across the padel world, from the USA and Mexico, from Portugal and Paraguay, from Argentina, Italy and Spain, and Omar Behroozian, the UAE’s No 1 tennis player, is really excited about the event after his first competitive experience of padel at the NAS2014 this year.

“This is really a lot of fun,” said Behroozian, who will play in the final of the UAE Nationals category of the padel tournament, alongside Abdulrahman Al Janahi, following their 6-3, 4-1 win over Hasan and Eisa Sharif on Thursday night.

For the title, they will meet Mohammed and Fares Al Janahi, who clinched a battling 6-5, 6-5 win over Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum and Omar Sharif.

“We were not here for the tournament last year because we were preparing for Davis Cup,” added Behroozian. “But a few colleagues from the tennis scene played it and they said it’s fun. So this year we decided we will try it out. It’s Ramadan and the atmosphere is really good. So it’s fun. It’s a nice game.

“I just hope more locals will be encouraged to play it and hopefully it can shoot up the popularity of racquet sports.”

In the teams’ competition, Hala Madrid defeated Al Mansoori 2-0 - winning the two ties 6-3, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-1 – to set up a date with home team NAS in the final.

On the squash courts, Mubarak Mohsin overcame a stiff challenge from Sandeep Ramachandran to reach the final, where he meets Aamir Khan.

Mohsin seemed to be cruising as he won the first two games 11-6, 11-4, but Ramachandran fought back to win the next two 11-4 and 11-9, and force a decider. The Indian, however, could not keep his fight going in the fifth and lost 11-3.

Aamir Khan, however, faced no such troubles in his semis, beating Faheem Khan 11-6, 11-9, 11-6.

In the volleyball tournament, Al Forsan and Al Matoog confirmed their status as two of the favourites with facile wins on their way to the last eight.

Al Forsan defeated Falaj Al Moalla 25-17, 25-19, 25-12 to book their tickets into the quarterfinals, while Al Matooq had work a bit harder in their 25-19, 24-25, 25-21, 25-23 win over Bin Subaih 2.

The NAS Sports Festival, which is being held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai and president of the Dubai Sports Council, will see more than 3,000 participants compete across six different sports in the first three weeks of Ramadan.

The three-week events boasts prize money in excess of Dh7 million, thanks to the support of the sponsors, who include Emirates airlines, Al Tayer Motors, Dubai Duty Free, Meydan, Saeed and Mohammed Al Naboodah Group, Al Rostamani Group, Al Futtaim Motors, Emirates-NBD and Mashreq Bank.

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