Spanish fourth seeds Patricia Llaguno and Victoria Iglesias got their campaign off to a great start with an impressive victory at the Modon Abu Dhabi Padel Master on Wednesday.
They outclassed compatriots Lorena Alonso and Sandra Hernandez 6-1, 6-1 in just over an hour on centre court at Al Bab Al Nojoum on Hudayriat Island to progress into the round of 16 of the World Padel Tour event.
“Yes, it was a good start and a convincing win, but the round of 16 is going to be much harder,” Llaguno, who has been competing as a professional for 14 years, told The National.
“I have been playing in the WPT circuit for a long time and it’s the first time in Abu Dhabi in an open court. It was a bit hot out there this morning but Victoria, my new partner, and I thoroughly enjoyed the first outing out there.
“I have travelled to Mexico and Miami but have been playing mostly in Europe. The last two years I mostly played back at home in Spain because of the pandemic, and it was a very nice feeling to get to Abu Dhabi.”
Llaguno, who turns 38 soon, has seen the sport’s popularity rise at a fast pace across the world in the last five years.
“It’s actually a spectacular sport and I see more padel courts developed in many cities across the world,” she added.
“I started with tennis when I was studying in the US before I started playing padel. I was hooked and enjoyed playing it full-time – training, playing and travelling the world.
“I’m also fortunate to have a family business, to take time off to be engaged in padel full-time.
“The facilities in Abu Dhabi are fantastic and I’m aware the sport is spreading across the region with the WPT event taking place here in the next five years. So, I can say Abu Dhabi and the region is on track.”
This tournament with a prize pool of €250,000, the highest ever in a WPT tournament, witnessed a stunning upset of fan favourite Francisco Compan of Spain and his Argentine partner Juan Tello.
They lost to Spanish duo Gonzalo Rubio Perez and Javier Ruiz Gonzalez 6-4, 7-5 in opening round in the men’s division.
The top-seeded pair of Agustin Tapia and Arturo Manso moved into the second round after a hard fought 7-6, 7-6 result over Javier Mora and Javier Barahmona.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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