Latest news with #padel
Al Bawaba
a day ago
- Health
- Al Bawaba
Bupa Arabia Concludes Season Two of Padel Tournament with Competitive Spirit and Inclusive Community Engagement
Bupa Arabia successfully concluded the second season of its flagship 'Bupa Padel Tournament,' held under the supervision of the Saudi Padel Committee and attended by Vice Chairman Nora Al Sarhan. The three-day tournament took place at Padel In courts, which were selected to ensure an enjoyable and accessible experience for both participants and year's tournament witnessed an impressive turnout with 64 male teams and 16 female teams from various companies and sectors competing in an atmosphere filled with energy, camaraderie, and passion for sport. More than just a competition, the event served as a vibrant platform for promoting healthy lifestyles, fostering workplace wellness, and encouraging a stronger, more active Riyadh tournament marked the third and final stop of the season, following successful editions held in Jeddah and the Eastern Province. The tournament journey reflected a growing community interest in padel, reinforcing its rising status as one of the most popular new sports in the Kingdom. It also highlighted padel's positive role in promoting healthy living and creating a more cohesive and energetic OrganizationThe tournament witnessed a highly competitive atmosphere that reflected the spirit of teamwork and positive interaction among the participating teams, amid a remarkable audience turnout from various sectors. At the conclusion of the competition, the top three winning teams in both the men's and women's categories were crowned. Participants expressed their happiness in taking part in the event, praising the professional organization, high-level facilities, and the support provided by Stories of Determination and ExcellenceThe top three winning teams in both the male and female categories were celebrated in a festive award ceremony. Participants shared their pride and excitement at being part of such a dynamic and inclusive men's champions from the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority impressed with outstanding teamwork and performance, while the women's team from Diriyah Company showcased remarkable determination and sportsmanship—highlighting the growing role of women in Saudi and third place winners were also recognized with trophies and prizes, celebrating their athletic spirit and competitive PlatformAmin Shaibi, Director – Segment & Trade Marketing at Bupa Arabia, stated: 'The Bupa Padel Tournament is not just about the game—it's a platform for connection, inclusivity, and wellness. We are proud to provide an equal space for both men and women to compete and thrive. This tournament embodies our commitment to empowering individuals to live healthier, more active lives.'He added: 'One of the standout aspects of this season was the open invitation to all companies to register both men's and women's teams. This greatly expanded the tournament's reach and strengthened the presence of women in sports. We're proud to have delivered a comprehensive experience that combined athletic competition with community entertainment—enhancing workplace relationships and supporting our mission to improve quality of life.'Live RightThe Bupa Padel Tournament is part of the Live Right program launched by Bupa Arabia in 2022, aiming to enhance physical and mental health and raise awareness about the importance of practicing sports, in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. Through this tournament, the program provides a community platform that enables companies and employees to interact and build fruitful relationships within a supportive and competitive 2025In the Jeddah tournament, which marked the historic first inclusion of women's teams in the event, Core Life claimed the men's title, followed by Dallah Al Baraka and Hussein Hesham Al Attas (Laylati). In the women's category, AlUla Club secured first place, ahead of Jamjoom Pharma and Cruise second stop was held in Al Khobar in the Eastern Province, with participation from 32 men's teams and 16 women's teams. The men's title went to R.E.C.E United Company, while the women's category was won by King Salman Energy Open, Inclusive Tournament for AllOne of the tournament's standout features was its open invitation to all companies—encouraging both male and female participation. This inclusive approach added richness and diversity to the experience, reinforcing Bupa Arabia's core belief in wellness for all. The tournament is part of Bupa Arabia's broader 'Live Right' program, which aims to drive public health awareness through sustained wellness and fitness initiatives. With growing participation year after year, Bupa Arabia continues to lead in fostering community-based sports and promoting holistic well-being throughout the Kingdom _ in line with Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to increase the percentage of sports participants to 40% and improve quality of life.
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Padel: The emerging racquet sport booming in Wales
The emerging racquet sport of padel is growing so fast that courts "will be full for the next 10-15 years", the national governing body for tennis has - a blend of tennis and squash - was invented in Mexico in 1969 but in recent years has grown in popularity, with an estimated 30 million players across the Cymru said it expected there would be 4,500 padel players in Wales by the end of 2025, and more than 6,000 by Wheatley, 64, from Cardiff, who has been playing the sport for more than four years, said he wished he had found it "20 years ago". "I was getting to an age where squash was becoming too much for me and my bones were aching," said Mr Wheatley."So I was looking to play tennis, and I'd been to Spain and I'd seen this game [padel] and I thought 'that would be lovely in the UK, but it's never going to happen'." Mr Wheatley said he bumped into a friend who told him about a padel court in Penarth that was open to non-members."He invited me along for a taster and it's just gone from there," he said."It's a fabulous game, it really is."It's got the element of squash in it with the ball coming off the glass at the back, and the tennis side of it as well."It's super sociable, and a game where you can just play some amazing shots. It's good fun, it's good exercise." What is padel? is a racquet sport that uses the same scoring conventions as lawn tennis but is played on courts around a third game is mainly played in the doubles format, with players using solid racquets with no strings. The courts are enclosed and, like in squash, players can bounce the ball off the balls are smaller than those used in tennis and players serve game was created by Mexican businessman Enrique Corcuera and his wife Viviana as they enjoyed their holiday home in Las Brisas, a suburb of couple began throwing a ball at a wall, and Viviana quickly fell in love with the rudimentary version of the game.A court measuring 20m (65ft) long by 10m (32ft) wide was built out of cement, making it easy to maintain, with walls of up to four metres (13ft) on each side to prevent balls from escaping onto neighbouring sport soon caught on abroad, reaching Europe and the UK. In 1992 the British Paddle Association was formed and since then the sport has grown throughout Britain, In 2020 Tennis Wales was recognised as the national governing body for padel in are now county championships held in Wales and Tennis Wales hopes to host international competitions in the future. The sport is considered inclusive, open to people of all ages and abilities and played on a smaller Llewelyn, from Swansea, started playing after a court opened in the city."Me, my sister and a couple of friends thought 'let's give this a go', and we played, and we didn't get off for four hours because it was so much fun."We didn't know any rules, we didn't understand the glass, we were just whacking the ball back and forth and it was really fun, and then we started playing once a week."The 31-year-old has now been playing for a year and a half and said for her 30th birthday they went to Malaga and played all weekend."I think it's quite a fast game, so if you turn up you can just get into it."You don't have to serve like tennis, because I can't serve, so I couldn't hold my own in a tennis game."But with the underarm serve it's so easy to pick up and it's so much easier to find three other girls to play with."We used to play netball together, we couldn't find 14 girls but we could find three." There are around 17 padel courts in Wales at the moment. Four years ago there was only one, but now there are plans to double the current number to 32 by the end of has already started on a new padel court in Llandaff in Cardiff, one of the many new courts that have popped up in the capital city over the last few chair for Tennis Cymru, Hywel Lewis, said: "Growth is going to come down to the number of courts and venues because we can only get so many people on court at the moment."If you compare the number of courts we have to tennis or squash we're very much a minority sport at the moment."But in terms of participation it's such an engaging sport and so easy for everyone to get involved, I think that we'll fill the courts, however many courts get created, for the next 10 to 15 years at least."
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Olympian turns hand to padel as new court opens in East Grinstead
An Olympic gold medallist who played club hockey in West Sussex is vying to reach the top of another sport - Bray, who was part of the Great Britain hockey side which won gold in the 2016 Rio games, retired from hockey in has swapped the hockey stick for a racket by taking up padel, which she plays on a new four court facility which will be fully open to the public in East Grinstead from this years on from her Olympic gold, Bray has risen the rankings and currently sits in the top 20 women's padel players in the country. She said it has been a "great replacement for playing hockey"."It's super social and there's more enjoyment as the improvement curve goes up," she said."I think while I was still playing both sports, the girls used to laugh at me that I was playing padel on the hockey pitch."Played in doubles on an enclosed court, padel - considered a blend of tennis and squash - is on the rise in the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) estimates that there will be more than 1000 padel courts in the UK by the start of 2026 - up from just 50 back in enthusiastic about competing, Bray has taken part in LTA tournaments and is keen to see where this journey takes for East Grinstead's new facility, she believes it makes an "amazing club" even better.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
How PSG's ‘kingmaker' seized chance to reshape football's future
If you are one of the UK's many new padel enthusiasts, it's ultimately because of one man, who you might not expect. He is going to be prominent at Saturday's Champions League final, and has already appeared in a social media-friendly CBS interview with Micah Richards after the semi-final. That is Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. A former tennis professional, he saw the potential in padel, and put Qatar 's immense financial weight behind the new sport. Qatar Sports Investments, who also own PSG, control Premier Padel and the World Padel Tour. The world's fastest-growing sport feels like a curious place to start a discussion about the world's most popular sport, and its biggest club game, but there is a point. Those who know Al-Khelaifi say he 'sees around corners, picks opportunities'. That has definitely been the case with padel, but it has arguably been most visible with European football, and what happened after the Super League and sparked a secret 'war' for European football's future. Numerous sources insist PSG were involved right up until 'the last minute'. They counter that they were never members, and Al-Khelaifi had a principled opposition. A huge opportunity was nevertheless seized. While Qatar have managed to get in on the ground floor with padel, they have gradually made it to the top of the European club game. The resignations from the European Club Association (ECA) that followed the Super League allowed Al-Khelaifi to rise to the chair of that organisation, even if those close to him insist he rejected requests to fill that role for three days after that April 2021 crisis. Al-Khelaifi has still run with it since. The ECA, which grew from the big clubs' 'G14' and now represents all those in European competition, has drastically expanded in scale and influence. It is much more than a lobby group. The ECA has established a joint venture with Uefa, called UC3, where they both have 50-50 of the Champions League. This control is what the big clubs always wanted, right through the talks that led to the Super League. And who is at the top? An official whose ultimate responsibility is to the Emir of Qatar. Rival executives have questioned whether this is appropriate for the European game. LaLiga's Javier Tebas is one of many to criticise Al-Khelaifi's 'conflict of interests', given he also runs a major broadcaster in the form of BeIn Sport. It is why this weekend may not just crown PSG's final rise as a club, to get what Qatar always wanted, in the Champions League itself. The trophy arriving in a first full season of the new format may also symbolically complete Al-Khelaifi's own rise, as well as the evolution of the competition into something more. The point has already been stressed about how this might just be the Super League by another name, with Uefa 's approval, driven by greater powers. The opening stage is now literally a 'super league', given that it features 36 teams and runs parallel to domestic competitions. The absurd entry of six English clubs next season is almost too brazen, given the original plans. Both Uefa and the ECA have nevertheless been keen to celebrate the new format's success. There is delight at how CBS had a record audience for a non-final game with Inter Milan v Barcelona. That isn't really down to any change, though. It's merely the old-fashioned jeopardy of true knock-out football, that can't be engineered. Either way, the next stage is to really capitalise on this American popularity. Uefa and the ECA have gone into partnership with US agency Relevent, whose speciality is big games in the States. That isn't necessarily about finals in New York, however, but maximising 'fan engagement' with new ideas and increasing revenues by 10-20 per cent. Supporter groups like the FSA would see that as 'entertainment elements' like pre-game shows that they would actively oppose. Who actually wants it? Al-Khelaifi is otherwise described, approvingly, as someone who 'drives change'. He is very hard working, with a ferocious temper, but has a charm. That has worked well, given a lot of rival executives say he isn't especially liked. The European football structure has certainly changed. Under the Qatari, the ECA has almost become a third major institution alongside Fifa and Uefa. Al-Khelaifi is very close to Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, and has a good relationship with Fifa counterpart Gianni Infantino. Insiders even describe this ECA as 'a kingmaker'. If there's a dispute, the side they take usually wins. The body was crucial to the Club World Cup getting off the ground. 'They are pulling levers without people even realising,' one senior source says. Such politics are intriguing in light of the recent row about Infantino's late arrival at the Fifa Congress in Paraguay, and how quickly Uefa anger was quelled with a conciliatory statement. Some insiders insist this is all consistent with what reformers have called for. European courts are now taking a dim view on Fifa and Uefa serving as both regulators and competition organisers with commercial interests. This ECA-led system dilutes that – but should it be at the behest of bigger clubs, and bigger powers? The ECA would point to their expanded membership, how everything is democratically run, and that Al-Khelaifi's leadership pushed the Europa Conference League. The Qatari himself is said to want the ECA to be more recognised as a brand, in terms of the good work it does in terms of legal and financial services to clubs, as well as the women's game. Critics would say the Union of European Clubs had to be established to give scores of affected clubs a voice, that numerous domestic leagues are fearing for their financial futures, and that they can't trust the ECA to consider the whole ecosystem. That ecosystem is increasingly shaped by the positioning for the next land grab, which is in that burgeoning US soccer market, and what happens next with streaming. That's where some attuned figures also see a new era. Much has been made of the Premier League no longer having a real rival, but there is a fear that is exactly what the ECA want the Champions League to be – and eventually to play on weekends. Those on the European side literally laugh about such complaints, given the Premier League's own status as a super league. At the same time, major continental club executives actively want to make English clubs weaker while building something of their own. That might be logical, and necessary, but it also illustrates one of modern football's endless arms races. Premier League clubs talk of consequently having to go bolder and more global. So much of this still comes back to these persistent modern themes, how football is looked at as a commodity to be used, rather than a cultural good. It's why the nature of leadership is so crucial. The Champions League has certainly led the way in the 'financialisation' of football, where virtually everything is looked at in monetary terms. You only had to watch the Europa League final or the Premier League's last day. At the centre of that is the ECA, headed by PSG's Qatari president, whose state primarily see political value in the game. 'People do think that is outrageous,' one source says. 'If you're Qatar, you'd say he's a genius. He's a major governance figure, Qatar Airways a main sponsor.'
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
New Cumbrian Padel Summer League ready to launch
THE inaugural Cumbrian Padel Summer League will launch this June, bringing regular, competitive padel to the region for the very first time. Organised by Racquet Club 24, the three-month league will run throughout the summer, with matches played weekly at the club's indoor courts in Workington. So far, 18 teams have signed up to take part in the fast-growing doubles sport, which combines elements of tennis and squash and is played in more than 100 countries. 'The response has been amazing,' said Bill Dixon, the club's founder. 'We knew there was growing interest in padel across Cumbria, but to see this many teams register in our first summer league is really exciting. The aim is to make the league inclusive, competitive, and fun.' Teams are grouped by ability, with promotion and relegation taking place at the end of each month. The league will run from June to August, with the majority of matches scheduled on Monday evenings, and a flexible rescheduling system available via the Playtomic app if all players agree. Each team will play about 12 matches across the season, with prizes awarded and the potential for a playoff event in September. The format is designed to suit both newcomers and experienced padel players. 'This league is about bringing people together from all over the county — whether they're in it to win or just want to meet other players and get better,' the organisers added. Entries close on May 28, and the league begins on Saturday, June 1. There's still time to put your team in. The cost is £100 per player for the 3 months inclusive of court fees. £200 per pair. For more information, visit or or to register your team search Workington on
