Padel Turning Up the Heat in Egypt
Egypt is one of the countries quickly joining in the padel craze. Following the recent emergence of padel in Egypt, Ibrahim Nofal build Egypt Padel Tour from the ground up aiming to bring more people into the ever-growing padel community.
Padel is a racket sport that combines elements of tennis, squash, and badminton. It was created in 1969 by Mexican businessman Enrique Corcuera after he couldn’t find enough space to build a tennis court at his home.
The court is one-third the size of a tennis court, measuring 20m long and 10m wide, surrounded by glass and metallic mash walls. The ball may bounce off any wall but can only hit the grass once before returning to the player. Points are given when the ball bounces twice in the opponent’s field.
Despite being around for many years, the sport just came to Egypt in 2014; nevertheless, it didn’t take long for it to catch on and its popularity soared, and the Egypt Padel Tour is one of the reasons for this (EPT).
When the sport first appeared in Egypt, EPT creator Ibrahim Nofal says that Padel started in Egypt in 2014 but didn’t take off until 2017.
It was previously only available in wealthy compounds like Katameya Heights and Palm Hills, but it has since been expanded to the new Giza sports club and ZED club.
However, during the pandemic, it flourished and expanded quickly since it was the only activity available to people when all clubs were closed and people were still afraid of gatherings, thus padel was the safest outdoor activity to do in small groups.
Another important aspect is that the ‘entry barrier’ or learning curve is minimal, and it can be picked up quickly, and you can play a full match from the first time.
Recently, Padel has risen in popularity due to the involvement of numerous celebrities, including football players like Mohamed Salah, Mohamed Aboutrika, Hazem Emam, Gedo, Meteb, and even football legends Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Beckham. Rafael Nadal, a well-known tennis star, has also been seen playing it.
All of this sounds wonderful, but how should a newcomer to the sport get started?
Players of all ages can ease into the sport by watching tutorial videos or going to near padel clubs and hiring a padel coach.
Egypt Padel Tour, which not only planned and organizes high-caliber tournaments, but was also the first to develop a rating system for the game in Egypt, has contributed to the sport’s growing popularity and professional component in Egypt.
When questioned about their goals and message, the founder mentioned that EPT came into being to begin coordinating the competitions scene in Egypt to push it to the next level.
We do this via a series of competitions that are professionally arranged, as well as through the use of our website, which has all tools and information. Every month and at the conclusion of the season, all results, player information, and player rankings are updated. There will be a season finale in which all of Egypt’s top players will fight for the largest prize money in the country. EPT is also known as the ‘1 million tour’, it is committed to awarding its winners a minimum total of 1 million EGP during the 2021 season.
EPT has around 500 members in EPT, with 860 entries across our six tournaments. This growing family plans to have at least 1,000 competitive padel players in Egypt by 2023. The tour was created to allow everyone to join by dividing it into seven divisions, open A for professionals, open B for intermediates, and open C for beginners.
