Ural Derby: Yekaterinburg Pairs Finish Russian Padel Tour First Stage
In Tatarstan, on February 1, the first tournament of the Russian Padel Tour, «Lights of Kazan,» concluded. Out of 16 participating pairs, two pairs from Yekaterinburg, representing the RMC Padel Academy, reached the final: Dmitry Myagkov and Evgeny Danilov, and Maxim Kolobov and Nikolai Manyukov. Maxim and Nikolai took first place, defeating their club colleagues in a three-set final. Thus, the gold and silver of the «Lights of Kazan» went to the trophy case of the club created by the Russian Copper Company.
The Russian Padel Tour (RPT) is a series of prestigious national padel tournaments under the auspices of the Russian Padel Federation. The tour helps develop this young sport and identify the strongest players. RPT consists of stages in categories A, B, and C for professionals and amateurs, forms a national ranking, and also includes major events such as the Russian Championship and Cup.
Before the final, the athletes defeated promising pairs Alexander Khalansky and Alexei Golovachev, Savely Tulupov and Eric Tomaidis. They formed at the start of the season, but all players are in the top twenty in Russia. The Ural athletes demonstrated good physical form at the start of the season, playing almost all matches in three sets.
«It was a very cool and tough match. I»d like to thank the guys, Danilov and Myagkov, for such a game, and RCC for the opportunity to train and improve,«commented athlete and coach of the academy Maxim Kolobov. For him, this is his first victory at RPT tournaments.
«It was an incredible battle! The match kept us in tension and intrigue until the very last point. It was hard to even guess who would be stronger. Such victories are the most valuable and memorable. I want to note that our team is young. For us, this is only the beginning of a big journey! And we also see how incredibly the level of play of each athlete has grown,»shared impressions by the academy director Daria Irkha.
While the tournament was taking place in Kazan, athlete and coach of the academy Alena Vasilyeva went to Doha for the international tournament FIP Bronze Doha and showed an excellent result at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in the capital of Qatar. Together with Turkish player Dilara Torsell, Alena reached the quarterfinals, where the girls lost to the Japanese-Tunisian duo Chamli and Tokumoto. Today, the Russian player holds the 160th position in the world FIP ranking.
The International Federation of Padel (FIP) is the global governing body for this sport. FIP, founded in 1991 in Madrid by representatives of the Argentine, Spanish, and Uruguayan padel federations, is a non-profit organization dedicated to popularizing padel worldwide.
In December, the premier tournament of the RCC Padel League with the participation of foreign athletes was held at the Ural padel arena. This year, at least six tournaments of the new league will be held in Yekaterinburg, which will allow Russian players to compete with the world«s best athletes and improve their performance.
