Portugal kicks off next Monday the World Padel Championship, which will be played until November 5 at the Dubai Aviation Club, in the United Arab Emirates, with “the best teams ever”, both in men and women.
The men’s team is integrated in Group A along with Spain, one of the greatest forces in the world of padel, along with Argentina, Uruguay and Great Britain, and is represented by Afonso Fazendeiro, Henrique Barbosa, Miguel Deus, Miguel Oliveira, Nuno Deus, Pedro Perry, Pedro Araújo and Vasco Pascoal.
“Argentina and Spain are still at a different level and Brazil follows, but already very close to Portugal, France and Italy. A miracle would be a third place, a good and deserved result would be a fourth place,” began Pedro Plantier. responsible for the national delegation.
The men’s competition will feature 17 countries as Qatar entered the World Cup directly with an invitation and the draw was not the luckiest for the national colours.
“In the men we took Spain and like at the start we came second, we got Brazil, the third power, in the quarterfinals. It is not an easy situation, but it is never easy,” Plantier evaluated.
In the women’s competition, also contested by 17 teams, with the United Arab Emirates as the invited team, Portugal will play against Ana Catarina Nogueira, Catarina Castro Vilela, Clarinha Santos, Helena Medeiros, Kátia Rodrigues, Margarida Fernandes, Patrícia Ribeiro and Sofia Araújo , which, integrated into Group C, will compete with Italy, Mexico and the Netherlands for qualification to the final.
“Spain is light years away from all other teams. Argentina has left a lot behind, which makes a Portuguese, Swedish or Italian team dream of going to the podium. However, in the draw we caught Italy, which is probably the third strongest team, a little bit stronger than us, and whoever takes the lead in the group stage will have it easier. in the group stage it will be against Italy,” the Portuguese official underlined.
Source: DN
