The sport of padel has also arrived to exotic destinations where it is pretty normal to see padel courts in hotels and tourist places, where this sport is more and more demanded. What is not so habitual is the existence of big projects promoting the practice and growth of padel in such places, with a solid long term plan, and when you find them there is always a remarkable history behind. Today we will share one of them
Who does not know Bali? But, did you know you could already play padel in such a tourist destination of Indonesia? Currently there are 2 courts located in Melia hotel Bali and where the Bali and Indonesia padel development project was born. And thanks to Pablo Castells, they call him “the father of padel in Indonesia”, a lawyer from Barcelona that fell in love with this sport more than 20 years ago in the city where he was born. Little later started promoting the sport in India, his first destination outside Spain. And it was not an easy task as no one knew about the sport and there were no courts in the entire country. He carried his padel racket with him to all tennis games he played and after a while curiosity awaked and multiple courts were built that are still up and running today.
His adventure in Bali is relatively recent. Started 2 years ago with a working trip from New Delhi to Bali, and by chance coincided with the beginning of the pandemic, which contributed to him extending his stay in the island. Once there his search began trying to find padel courts, so he discovered one in Melia hotel Bali (currently 2 available courts there). A conversation with the hotel director was enough to get the first Bali padel club started (Bali padel) which already has more than one hundred members from more than 12 different countries, with a high level of participation since over the last few months already 3 Bali Padel Open have already been organised, international tournaments that have had different winners.
Pablo explains that Indonesia is a country of racket sports tradition that has already shown interest from different local players on how to play. Taking into account that Indonesia is the world’s fourth biggest country in terms of population, the fastest growing and developing country in SouthEast Asia with an also growing middle class, the growth of padel is going to be a logical consequence.
His next plans are focused on Bali but there are also projects in the pipeline for the country’s capital, Jakarta. An international league between countries is almost a reality and they hope to gather players from India and Indonesia in Bali. In October, the first International tournament will take place in Bali, with players from all around Indonesia and other countries. In November a new padel facility with 4 courts will also be inaugurated. And in December a new padel facility with 2 more courts will also open in Jakarta.
From Bali Padel, they work hard to grow the number of padel players and fans community, manage padel courts as a service for other investors and also intend to build their own sport centres thorough Indo Padel, provide padel infrastructure advice and guide foreign sports businessmen on how to invest in padel courts.
This entrepreneur from Barcelona whose main activity is to help investors establishing in SouthEast Asia is currently not only focused on padel but also humanitarian work, building schools in oppressed communities all across New Delhi through the NGO stretsofindia.org which collaborates with local schools to invest in education, and as Pablo always highlights, education is the basic tool for social transformation.
