FIP European Padel Championships, Cagliari becomes “European”, with first trainings and city tours

On a hot Saturday morning, on the day of the FIP Platinum Sardegna finals, Cagliari woke up to the vivid colors of a Europe wielding padel rackets. In the city, from the early hours, the players of the 13th FIP European Padel Championships – scheduled from Monday, July 22 to Saturday, July 27 at TC Cagliari – took advantage of their free hours between training sessions and technical briefings to stroll around the city or enjoy a few hours of relaxation on Cagliari’s beaches before getting serious, racket in hand. Curiosity bounces from the  Poetto beach, where some kids approach the players to ask and learn about the European Championship, to the streets of Cagliari. And so, a young boy points out some players from different national teams in their official uniforms while walking: “Mom, look, there are players! Who are they?” The mother asks, inquires, and the curiosity is satisfied. Gradually, in the streets of the historic center, representatives of the various national teams that have landed in the Sardinian capital appear, while the hotel lobbies are an explosion of official colors: from the green and red of the Portuguese to the classic red-blue-white of the English team, to the yellow-blue of the Swedish team and the ‘Oranje’ of the Dutch.

THE PROTAGONISTS The secondary courts of TC Cagliari, after being the stage of the FIP Platinum, will host the first training sessions of almost all national teams tomorrow, but already today some players were seen on the court, as in the case of the Spaniards Teo Zapata, number 34 of the FIP ranking, and Jose Antonio Diestro (40), who were on the court in the morning, alternating smiles and jokes with moments of very intense training.

In the afternoon, some players from various national teams decided to watch the finals between Marrero-Osoro and Orsi-Rodriguez in the women’s competition and between Gonzalez-Alonso and Lijo-Cepero in the men’s competition: a spectacle while waiting for the spectacle. Tomorrow at 7.30 PM at TC Cagliari, the opening ceremony of the European Championships will take place, during which the draws will be conducted. The 16 nations will be divided into 4 groups of 4 teams: Spain, Italy, France, and Sweden, as the top seeds, have already been directly placed into each of the four groups (Spain in Group A, Italy in Group B, France in Group C, Sweden in Group D). The top two teams from each group will compete for positions from first to eighth, while the countries ranked third and fourth will compete for positions from ninth to sixteenth. On Friday, July 26, the semifinals will be played, and on Saturday, July 27, starting at 10 AM, the finals will take place, not only to determine the champions but also to establish all other positions, from third to eighth.