Asia is increasingly interested in padel and we can say that Thailand is no exception to this trend. In a country where badminton is the national sport, there is a community of racquet sports. Gustavo Oriol, Gio for close friends, is the founder of the first padel structure in Thailand. It sheds a little more light on its development today.

Bangkok community

“Our community has around 300 players who play year round. I would say that they play at least three times a year, not counting those who come to try this sport ”

A community that is growing day by day but which struggles to see a majority of local players:

“We are indeed in Bangkok in the Thai capital and the purchasing power of the inhabitants of this city is clearly higher than those of other regions. It would have been logical if most of the community was represented by Thais but this is not the case, we see mainly expatriates from Spain, Sweden and Italy. ”

An attractive sport but which has not yet fallen in love with everyone:

“Among the 300 players, there would be around 10 to 15% of them who would consider this sport to be their favorite. Bangkok is a city where there is a multitude of activities and people also devote time to other sports. ”

Padel bangkok thailand gio

Padel in Thailand tomorrow

The founder's outlook is rather optimistic despite the health crisis affecting the whole world. Like many, he sees interesting growth prospects:

“Our dream is for the padel community to grow in Bangkok, I remain convinced that padel will gain its place in the coming years in Asia and especially in Thailand since there is also another structure in Phuket which has just seen the light of day.”

To make the practice evolve, the axes of development are rather financial, but also marketing:

“The practice will evolve from the moment the community grows and allows enough people to promote this sport. Potential investors could then emerge to expand the existing infrastructure. I also plan to bring in high-level players from Spain to promote padel. For the moment, it is a little tricky because of the health crisis but it counts as one of my priorities once the situation calms down.”

 

 

Alexandre Cifuentes

Alexandre Cifuentes studies economics. He decided to intervene on the padel business and the sports market in general. He allows us to know about padel in its entirety.

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