Day3. Australia, Egypt and Morocco show their strength. Tomorrow the decisive matches for the two women’s places at Doha

KUWAIT CITY – The wait is almost over. Tomorrow, 29 October, the FIP World Cup Qualifiers Asia-Africa will determine the two women’s national teams that will secure a place at the FIP World Cup in Doha. The two places will go to the winners of the Japan-Indonesia and Tunisia-Egypt matches. The final men’s place for Qatar, meanwhile, will not be decided until Saturday, with Kuwait, Egypt, Australia and Morocco competing for the last available spot.

 

WOMEN’S  Japan defeated Oman 3-0, with strong performances from the pairs Natsuki/Kutsuna, Tokumoto/Kushima and Ozawa/Tsukamoto, to finish top of Group A. In their next match, the Japanese players will face another Asian nation, Indonesia, who won Group D after defeating Hong Kong 2-1 on Day 3. In the other semi-final, Tunisia, winners of Group C, will take on Egypt, who topped Group B by beating Lebanon 2-1 in their final match. The victories in the first two matches of the tie by the pairs Morales Llorente-El Nimr and Faidallah/El Halaby proved decisive.

 

MEN’S Morocco finished top of Group D after defeating Tunisia 2-1 in their head-to-head encounter. Having won the opening match of the tie through Reda/Fertat before losing the second, in which Mekouar/Sakkat were beaten by Helali/Elloumi, Morocco secured the decisive point through Alami/Moumar, who defeated Chouaieb/Youssef 7-6, 7-6. Morocco will face Australia in the semi-finals. Australia topped Group A with a 3-0 victory over Lebanon, thanks to wins by Melisi/Ashenden, Brown/Zelba and Navarro/Velickovic. Kuwait completed the group stage with a perfect record in Group C after beating Saudi Arabia 2-1. The host nation for this qualifying event will face Egypt in the semi-finals. Egypt topped Group B with a 3-0 victory over Senegal, secured by Zaghloul/Mohamed Makhlouf, Marzouk/Shokeir and El Garhy/Aboulkassem.

 

DAY 4 SCHEDULE On Thursday 29 October, four matches will be played, with two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The day’s programme will begin at 10 am local time with the women’s matches Japan-Indonesia and Tunisia-Egypt. The afternoon session will start no earlier than 2 pm, with the men’s matches between Kuwait and Egypt, and Australia-Morocco. All matches will be available to watch via streaming on the International Padel Federation’s YouTube channel.