Bek-Babic Fight Back to Down Lozova-Belbes for NAS Padel Championship Crown

DUBAI, April 26, 2021:   Josipa Bek and Selma Babic rallied from a set down to beat Karina Simeonova Lozova and Alessa Belbes in a thrilling Women’s bronze Category final of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament Padel Championship.

Croatian Bek, a former ITF tennis tour pro, and Babic of Bosnia and Herzegovina fought back after losing the first set to win the second in a tie-break and then cruised through the third for a 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 triumph over their Bulgarian-Filipino opponent. Bek and Babic will take home the winner’s cheque of AED 20,000, while the runners-up will get AED 15,000.

The Men’s Gold Category semi-finals also took place on Sunday night, and Martin Noschese-Guillermo Villafane defeated Emilio Misas-Masson Xavier 6-4, 6-4 to book a title-clash with Javier Lopez Garcia-Alexander Farquharson, who defeated Saeed Al Marri-Claudio Bobadilla 6-1, 6-3 in the other semi-final.
Organised by Dubai Sports Council, the NAS Sports Tournament has been one of the top sporting attractions during the Holy Month of Ramadan since 2013, and the eighth season of the Tournament features competitions in two others sports besides padel - running and cycling. All three events are being organized in compliance with all COVID-19 precautionary measures and protocols, as well as other guidelines issued by relevant authorities.

The Tournament kicked off with the NAS Padel Championship on April 14, and will close with the NAS Run, which takes place across two nights with the 10km Race scheduled for Wednesday, April 28, and the 5km for Thursday, April 29.

Dubai Police, Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai, Dubai Municipality and Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services are the strategic partners for this year’s Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, while Dubai Duty Free, Pocari Sweat and Tecnotree have signed up as sponsors for the 8th season of the Tournament, which is one of the biggest events of its kind in terms of participation and prize money.

Tecnotree are a Finland-headquartered full-stack Business Support System (BSS) provider with more than 40 years of deep domain knowledge, proven delivery and transformation capability across the globe, and speaking about his their partnership with Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, Padma Ravichander, CEO of Tecnotree, said: “We are delighted to support the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament (NAS) during the holy month of Ramadan. Sports participation and keeping active are important in not only keeping our bodies healthy, but also improving our well-being and quality of life, especially during these challenging times. The NAS event is truly an opportunity to bring communities and ecosystems together to perform, participate and experience the community spirit and help build a strong and integrated society of the future. Positive initiatives such as this are very much part of our DNA at Tecnotree and we are delighted to be involved in something that will help benefit the physical and mental health of UAE citizens.”