UAE: Meet Emirati female padel player who rose to the top in just 2 years

Ulfah Al Kaabi is one of the top Emirati female padel players in the country, despite joining the sport just two years ago.

A business administration and marketing graduate from the United States, the Emirati has been into sports since childhood. She has played soccer, basketball, karate and others but padel wasn’t her thing until recently.

Currently ranked 13 amongst female players in the UAE, the Emirati told Khaleej Times that she was introduced to the sport by a friend.

“Padel became popular in the UAE two years ago and that is when I joined the sport. I was invited to the game by a friend and played with people who had played for a couple of years,” said Al Kaabi.

As soon as I got on the court, had the racket and started playing, I fell in love with sport. I knew this is something that I wanted to pursue and get better at.”

She says padel is an interesting game as you have to combine physical with mental. “It is a mentally strong game - similar to tennis. You have to be very strategic with every ball, you have to be confident and you have to conquer your opponents both physically and mentally. And to maintain that, it’s really very important for the perfection of the game,” explains the Emirati.

Al Kaabi has won several tournaments and achieved 11 medals just in the last year, including WPA Women's Tournament in April 2021, Match Spot Solo Tournament October 2021, Match Spot Duo Tournament November 2021 1st Place, ADCC x Padel Point Inter-Club Tournament | June 2021. She emerged first in all these competitions.

Citing some of the challenges she has faced, the Emirati says there were just a few courts for playing padel in the UAE when she joined the sport.

“I wanted to start training and most of the courts in Abu Dhabi where I was living were fully booked in advance for a month. The only time I was able to find a training slot was at 7am in Dubai,” said Al Kaabi.

“I used to wake up at 5am, drive to Dubai, train for an hour and return to Abu Dhabi. Many people found it crazy how I could drive to Dubai to train for just an hour. But I didn’t stop because I was so in love with the game.”

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