The 17th edition of FIP World Padel Championships will be held in Doha from October 28 to November 2.

Qatar’s Mohammed Al-Khanji is optimistic that his country will shrug off last edition’s second-last-place finish, drawing on strong home support and the increasing popularity of Padel in the country as the sport’s premier biannual event begins in Doha on Monday.

The 30-year-old will lead Qatar’s eight-men team at the FIP World Padel Championships, alongside Abdullah Al-Hijji, Amr Hassan, Hassan Waly, Jabor Al-Mutawa, Mohammed Al-Kuwari, Rayyan AlJufairi and Mohammed Abdullah.

The hosts will begin their campaign on Monday facing Chile in the evening at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, having been drawn in Group C alongside top seed France, Chile, and Uruguay the previous day.

Despite ranked fourth from the bottom, Qatar is expected to perform better with Padel’s exponential growth in popularity in the country as well as the Qatar Sports Investment’s takeover of the World Padel Tour in August 2023.

“The sport is growing massively in the country,” said Al-Khanji, who will pair up with Amr Hassan throughout the tournament. “This is our third appearance at the [World] Championships and it is an honour to represent the country at home.”

The 2024 edition will feature 16 competing national teams in both men’s and women’s categories, divided across four groups.

The only other representatives from the Arab World at the tournament will be the United Arab Emirates – participating only in the men’s category – and Egypt’s female contingent.

“At this level, there are no easy teams to play against,” Al-Khanji told Doha News after the draw. “Our intent is to give our best against the best players in the world and we urge our supporters to show up and support us on the court.”

Qatar are under the tutelage of two Argentinians: head coach Pablo Sisti and his assistant Martin Luciano Bogarin, reflecting the South American nation’s dominance at the competition.

Since the inaugural Padel World Championship in Madrid in 1992, Argentina has claimed the title 11 times, missing out on the trophy only four times—all against Spain.

The battle in Doha for the men’s championship is expected to be between the two familiar foes, with Argentina coming as the defending champions after beating Spain 2-1 in the finale in Dubai two years ago.

In the women’s category, Spain enters as the defending champions and will look to defend their title for the fifth consecutive time. Argentina have ended up on the losing side in all five occasions since 2014 and lost 2-0 in Dubai.

It is a similar story in women’s category – Argentina and Spain have won the title eight times each, with the highest achievement by any other side being Brazil’s finale run in 2012, only to lose 3-0 to Argentina.

This year’s FIP World Padel Championships will have prize money of €500,000 ($540,000) with the winner in men and women categories taking home €45,000 ($48,000) each and the rest distributed among the participating teams.

Men’s Draw

Women’s Draw