New South African padel league welcomes players of all levels

Beginners will line up alongside advanced players in a new SA padel league where six teams will duke it out for a trophy.

The Nabob Cup takes entries from players at any level, with each of them placed in a team for the first season.

Three of the six teams have been announced, with the rest to follow: H&M Aces, Nabob Lions and Your Solar SA Sharks.

Co-founder Marco Da Costa Dias said the point was to put club-level players on the same stage as stronger ones.

"Our key focus and approach is giving our beginner, intermediate and advanced player the opportunity to be a part of something big," Da Costa Dias said on Tuesday.

"Be a part of a team and help take your team to the top." Da Costa Dias explained the league was meant to work as a social and networking platform as much as a competition, with players meeting outside their usual circles.

Da Costa Dias said the Nabob Cup would set itself apart on the experience it built around the sport.

"Nabob Cup is a place where innovation takes padel to the next level," he said.

The competition was created by Nabob Media to mark its TikTok account passing 250,000 followers.

Nabob Media CEO Zareef Minty said it was aimed at players the established padel structures had missed.

"This padel cup is here to showcase the hidden talent we have in South Africa but at the same time we want to build community."

Padel, a doubles game played on an enclosed court with a solid bat, has spread faster than any other racket sport in SA over the past five years.

Africa Padel opened its first club in Camps Bay in 2021 and now runs 19 clubs, from Johannesburg and Durban to Bloemfontein, Gqeberha and Plettenberg Bay.

A game costs about R400 an hour at most clubs, which works out at roughly R100 a player, and clubs hire out bats to anyone who arrives without one.