Paddle tennis will have to wait at least another decade, until the 2032 Games in Brisbane (Australia), to see its Olympic dream come true, while other disciplines such as surfing, climbing, skateboard and the break dance they will be present in 2024 in Paris and squash, electric karting, football flagthe softball or the lacrosse have been invited to present their proposal for 2028 in Los Angeles.
The recent exclusion of the IFJ from the list of invited federations to present their proposals for the appointment of Los Angeles 2028 has confirmed that, for the second consecutive term, the main electoral promise of the president of the international federationLuigi Carraro, will not be fulfilled either.
”First of all, we would like paddle tennis to become an Olympic sport. This objective will allow us to revolutionize our sport in terms of dissemination, development and attractiveness. Our path is serious, linear and concrete, so that it is already in the 2024 Paris Olympics“, Said the Italian leader as soon as he took office in November 2018.
Grandson and son of two presidents of the AC MilanLuigi Carraro has not hesitated to resort to old family contacts –especially within the National (CONI) and European (EOC) Olympic Committees– to claim himself as the president who made the padel an olympic discipline.
Not in vain, according to several important actors within the sector, the Italian’s “presidential” vision has been “one of the main reasons” that have ended up harm Olympic interests of the paddle Especially, as a result of the conflict originated with the creation of the series of tournaments Premier Padelpromoted by the FIP itself with the sponsorship of the QSI Qatari fund.
This maneuver has been criticized by the International Padel Cluster, from where a written clarification was requested from the FIP in relation to the new role of the entity “as part of a lawsuit” in which “he should be acting as arbitrator”.
The close relationship between his father Franco Carraro, president of the CONI between 1978 and 1987, and his former personal secretary and current secretary general of the EOC, Raffaele Pagnozzi, made possible the inclusion of padel in the program of the 2023 European Games in Poland. This achievement was celebrated in style from the IFJ and Luigi Carraro himself pointed it out in April 2021 – days before his re-election as president – as the last step prior to the entry of this discipline in the Olympic program of the next Summer Games in Paris.
“If this is achieved, it would be very likely that ehe padel was Olympic in 2024”, declared the Italian then, despite the fact that months before, in December 2020, the IOC had already confirmed to the skateboardingclimbing, surfing and break dancing would be the new Olympic sports at the French event.
More than a year later, history repeats itself. Carraro will see his second term at the head of the FIP fulfilled without making it a reality again his great electoral promise. Meanwhile, active legends such as Fernando Belasteguín will hang up the shovel without having represented their country in the Games, and the couple formed by Ale Galán and Juan Lebrón will not experience a hypothetical Olympic premiere until the end of their respective careers, which represents a hard blow for padel.
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