Nairobi hosts international padel action as FIP Silver tournament concludes

Kenya marked another major milestone in the rapid growth of padel in the country, as Nairobi hosted the FIP Silver Nairobi ‘B’ Active, an official International Padel Federation tournament on the CUPRA FIP Tour. The tournament brought together international professional players and Kenya-based competitors for four days of competition, culminating in the men’s and women’s finals on Sunday night. The field included several internationally ranked professionals, with the women’s draw headlined by Argentina’s Julieta Bidahorria and Virginia Riera, ranked 43rd and 47th respectively. The Argentine pair completed an outstanding week in Nairobi by beating Raquel Piltcher and Christina Ntanou 6-1, 6-4 in the final. Bidahorria and Riera went through the entire tournament without dropping a set, conceding just ten games on their way to the title. The men’s title went to Spain’s Adri Naranjo and Jaume Romera, who defeated Santi Pineda and Marcos Gonzalez Blanco 7-5, 6-2 in the final. Naranjo and Romera had earlier produced one of the tournament’s biggest results in the semifinal, eliminating the number-one seeds Antonio “Pincho” Fernandez and Mario Del Castillo.