Portimão will have a sports weekend, between the 10th and 12th of March, with events in modalities such as beach tennis, BMX, tennis and bodyboarding.
In the case of beach tennis, this will be the first event of this modality to be held in the Algarve, in this case, in Praia da Rocha, on the 10th, 11th and 12th, always starting at 10 am.
«With free admission, and with points for the ITF World Tour, the Beach Tennis Portimão International Open will be played in six fields and will have a prize money of 4000 euros, bringing together the best Portuguese practitioners, as well as 21 male and 20 female pairs from several other countries, including Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France or Ukraine», according to the Portimão Chamber.
In addition to the professional tournament, an amateur event will be held in parallel at the same location, open to all practitioners and curious people who wish to try the sport.
«Beach tennis, which can be played in doubles or singles, mixes tennis, frescoball and beach volleyball and was created in the Italian town of Marina di Ravenna, being known as beach tennis in Portugal, where it has experienced significant growth», according to the municipality
The organization of this debut event will be in charge of Ida Álvares, a former volleyball player for the Brazilian national team and Olympic medalist (Atlanta 1996), «who found a new passion in beach tennis, making the sport more dynamic in Portugal through her Beach Tennis Cascais school ».
Currently, there is an informal practice group of the modality in Praia da Rocha, promoted by Beach Tennis Portimão, which maintains two fields in the Sports Area throughout the year.
The Beach Tennis Portimão Open has the support of the Portuguese Tennis Federation and the Municipality of Portimão, with a free participation workshop on the discipline scheduled for the 10th and 11th of March, which will take place in the Sports Area of Praia da Rocha and will be targets young people between 12 and 18 years old, within the scope of the Young March 2023.
Also for the weekend of March 11th and 12th, the first two rounds of the Taça de Portugal BMX Race 2023 will take place, which will take place on the BMX Race track at Parque da Juventude in Portimão.
The first round will take place on the 11th, from 15 pm to 00 pm, while the second round, scheduled for the following day, will take place from 19 am to 00 pm.
«After the complete refurbishment of the installations of the Portimonian track, the runners will have to adapt to the new demands of this sport, which has already become an Olympic discipline, namely due to the more modern layout, in M format, with three asphalted curves and faster obstacles and smooth, with the starting grid now being XNUMX% electric», describes the Chamber.
The categories in competition are as follows: male: pupils – 5/6 years old, benjamins – 7/8 years old, beginners – 9/10 years old, children – 11/12 years old, juveniles – 13/14 years old, cadets, junior/elite , masters, CR 30/39, and CR 40+; females: 5/8 years old, 9/12 years old, 13/14 years old, 15-24 and 25+.
As part of the March Youth sports programme, the event is the result of collaboration between the Clube Bicross de Portimão, the Portuguese Cycling Federation, the Municipality of Portimão and the Parish Council of Portimão.
Also on the same weekend, Praia da Rocha will also host the first stage of the South Regional Bodyboarding Circuit, open to the male (under 12, under 14, under 16 and under 18) and female (under 14 and under 18) categories.
This is a regional event dedicated to federated surfers and bodyboarders, where 60 participants and 500 spectators should be present during the two days of the competition, organized by Núcleo Bodyboard Portimão and Portimão Surf Clube, with the support of the Parish Council of Portimão, the Municipality of Portimão, the Portuguese Surfing Federation and the Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth.
Another of the sports proposals for this weekend in full is the Portimão M25 International Open, which will take place between the 9th and 19th of March at the Complexo Municipal de Ténis e Padel de Portimão and which is part of the world circuit of IT tournaments, in the Futures category.
The competition, which arises from a partnership between the Portuguese Tennis Federation and the ITF – International Tennis Federation, distributes monetary prizes totaling 25.000 dollars and counts towards the world ranking of tennis professionals.
«Around 120 athletes, from all over the world, will be present at the event, in search of points to be able to climb the rankings and aspire to enter events with higher prize-moneys, with this Open having the support of the Municipality of Portimão and the Associação de Tennis in the Algarve», concluded the Portimão Council.
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