Northern Ireland to host record UK padel field
The strongest player field ever assembled for a UK padel tournament will compete in Northern Ireland this week as the FIP Silver R3 Bullpadel Cup - NI Open gets underway at Padel54 in Moira.
Running from Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 July, the tournament marks the first time Northern Ireland has hosted a professional padel event and, by attracting the strongest field ever assembled for a UK tournament, represents the highest level of professional padel yet staged on the island of Ireland.
Part of the official CUPRA FIP Tour sanctioned by the International Padel Federation (FIP), the event has attracted more current and former world top-25 players than any previous UK tournament. Both the men's and women's draws also feature more players ranked inside the world's top 100 than any other tournament previously held in the UK.
VVV Sports launches first publicly listed platform focused on emerging sports
Padel and pickleball are among the fastest-growing sports globally, attracting millions of new participants and accelerating commercial interest.
Yet despite that growth, much of the industry remains fragmented, with athletes, events, venues, media and commercial partners developing in parallel rather than as part of a coordinated ecosystem.
Led by entrepreneur Jonathan Rowland, the founder of UK challenger bank Redwood Bank, VVV Sports today debuts as a publicly listed sports, media and entertainment platform designed to address that gap.