But several emerging padel countries actually surprise and delight.
I was fortunate enough to once again join the World Padel Championships with Great Britain. This year, we traveled to Dubai to take on some of the best padel teams in the world at one of my favorite locations.
We didn’t end up taking home the trophy, but we did place fourteenth overall. More importantly, we got to see incredible teams in action, and I think I speak for everyone on our team in saying that we already can’t wait for next year.
In this post I’ll share a bit about the magical location and give a rundown of the results.
Homecoming to Dubai
Going back to Dubai was a bit of a nostalgic trip for me since I lived there for ten years. I left about a year ago, but the visit brought back a plethora of excellent memories.
The UAE Padel Association with the FIP (the International Padel Federation), ran the tournament. My previous role was organizing major events for the Federation, so it was nice to be reunited with all the people and teams involved in hosting the event.
Considering the UAE only had forty-two days to execute this event, (yep, that’s how much notice they had!) they really pulled off a fantastic event. The venue was world class, and the hotel was clearly five star and right by the courts which made it extremely convenient for the players.
The courts themselves were pristine with plenty of seating and viewing areas. In addition, each match was broadcast live on YouTube for anyone in the world to be able to follow along.
Everything was as you would expect from a Dubai event. It had the air of an event akin to the World Padel Tour with the highest quality we’ve seen. The UAEPA pulled through with a fantastic event enjoyed by players, coaches, and many fans supporting their countries.
2022 World Padel Championships Results
For the men’s side of things, Argentina came away with the victory over Spain with two other European teams doing well with France ending in third and Portugal in fourth. Portugal has had some issues over the past year with FIP, but with everything worked out they really brought the heat this year.
For the women, the rivalry between Argentina and Spain for first went the other way from the men’s with Spain pulling out the win. Italy and Belgium worked their way into the third and fourth spots respectively. The GCC teams demonstrated growth throughout the week with Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE giving excellent showings on the court.
The final rankings are a reflection of the growth of padel in each specific country and how seriously they are taking their training, and we could also see the importance of the stage of the infrastructure of the sport in the nation.
It’s not a hard and fast rule that X number of padel clubs and X number of years training as a country guarantees a certain ranking, but Spain and Argentina are prime examples of how long-term development can have a big impact on performance.
They capped the tournament off with His Highness Sheikh Saeed (or Uncle Saeed as he is affectionately known) awarding the bronze, silver, and gold medals.
The 2022 World Padel Championships in Dubai will go down in history as one of the best tournaments on record. Whichever country has to follow up Dubai’s impressive showing this year will have their work cut out for them!
What questions do you have about the World Championships? Post them below and we will get back to you.
Thanks for stopping by,
-Sandy and The Padel School Team
