The last places at the FIP World Cup in Doha are being decided this week in Kuwait City, where the FIP World Cup Qualifiers for Asia and Africa run from 26 to 30 October. On Thursday, 29 October, two women's semi-finals decide both remaining women's places: Tunisia play Egypt, and Japan face Indonesia. The winners go to Qatar.
The last stop on the road to Doha
Kuwait is the fourth and final qualifying event, after Toronto for North and Central America, Asunción for South America and Madrid for Europe, the International Padel Federation explained. Fourteen national teams entered the men's event and thirteen the women's, each split into four groups. Only the group winners reach the knockout stage, and only one men's place and two women's places are available for the World Cup, which runs from 2 to 7 November.
Tunisia and Egypt, unbeaten so far
Both North African teams made perfect starts. On the opening day, Tunisia's women beat the Philippines 3-0 and Egypt's women beat Bahrain 3-0, the FIP reported. Tunisia went on to win Group C, and Egypt topped Group B by beating Lebanon 2-1 in their last group match, with the pairs Morales Llorente/El Nimr and Faidallah/El Halaby winning the first two rubbers. Their semi-final is a meeting of the two strongest African women's teams in the event, with a World Cup place for the winner.
In the other semi-final, Japan, who won Group A after a 3-0 win over Oman with the pairs Natsuki/Kutsuna, Tokumoto/Kushima and Ozawa/Tsukamoto, face Indonesia, winners of Group D after a 2-1 win over Hong Kong.
Four teams left for one men's place
The men's event is tighter. Tunisia's men also beat Bahrain 3-0 on the first day, but they lost the decisive Group D tie 2-1 to Morocco, who won the deciding rubber through Alami and Moumar, 7-6 7-6. Morocco now meet Australia, who topped Group A with 3-0 wins over the Philippines and Lebanon, while host nation Kuwait, unbeaten in Group C, face Egypt, who beat Senegal 3-0 to top Group B. Only the winner of the knockout stage goes to Doha.
What is at stake in Doha
The World Cup brings together the strongest padel nations, with tour rivals split by nationality: Spain and Argentina's squads are built around the best players on the Premier Padel tour. See our team guides for Spain and Argentina. All qualifying matches are streamed on the FIP's YouTube channel; we will add the qualified teams once the results are confirmed.
Sources
This article was written by TiebreakNews from the reporting below, checked against official results and rankings.
- International Padel Federation — 'Road to Doha', the final stop in Kuwait: Asian and African national teams seek the last FIP World Cup spots
- International Padel Federation — Day1, perfect debut for Tunisia and Egypt. Japan's women also make a great start
- International Padel Federation — Day3. Australia, Egypt and Morocco show their strength. Tomorrow the decisive matches for the two women's places at Doha