The article you are about to read is written in all subjectivity, far from the supposed journalistic objectivity which is very often a myth. Why this subjectivity? Because "I" write it less as a journalist than as an accompanist and "coach" of the French team of padel-armchair, which has just won the bronze medal of the first World Championships in Madrid. Indeed, the French players had offered me to be part of this unprecedented adventure, which I accepted with pride and joy.

During our small final for 3rd place, against Argentina, we offered our opponents to play "cards on the table", without a strategy to deceive the opponent: the best French team against the best Argentinian team, the pair n°2 against n°2, 3 against 3. The Argentinian coach and captain have accepted that sport takes precedence over tricks, so that the best team wins, without “tricking”!

And at the end of a beautiful meeting, full of suspense, it was the French players who won. They have sometimes turned around delicate, even desperate situations. In Madrid, Dorian Navarro, Nicolas Vanlergberghe, Sébastien Husser, Tony Boval, Jean-Marc Keghlian and Serge Garnier showed admirable combativeness and solidarity on and off the track. This French team can be proud to have represented its country with six other nations (Spain, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Morocco) during these unprecedented championships.

Worlds still unofficial

The sad spirits will point out that these Worlds of padel-armchair are (still) only unofficial, because they have not been orchestrated by the International Federation of padel. The latter supported these Worlds, but could not organize them, because the national federations it brings together do not yet recognize the padel-armchair, in their vast majority. This is the case in Spain, but not in the other countries present in Madrid; in Costa Rica, for example, there is not even a federation of padel.

The organization and costs of these first Worlds of padel-armchair in Madrid were mainly assumed by the Spanish Sports Federation for People with Disabilities and Madrid Sports Federation for the Disabled, with the support of Spanish Federation of padel.

Top athletes

This competition logically crowned Spain, whose wheelchair players are truly top athletes, as can be seen in the video broadcast of their final against Chile, followed by the prize giving.

But for this first, only seven nations were present in Madrid. There are several reasons for this. One of them is the difficulty for many countries to bring together six wheelchair players (because these championships were mixed). Italy and Portugal have for example given up on aligning selections, for lack of “combatants” in sufficient numbers or budget allocated by their federations. The Netherlands, present in Madrid, completed their team with a Belgian neighbor, Stan Devriese.

France has a larger pool of wheelchair players: 80 of them regularly take part in the national tournament circuit orchestrated by the players themselves. As for the ranking of wheelchair players, it is calculated each month, according to the FFT scale, by the one who was captain of the French team in Madrid: Sébastien Husser.

On the left Tony Boval and Sébastien Husser and their Argentinian opponents in the small final Alfonso Woolley and Jose Castricini

Up to 1500 euros fee per participant

Another barrier for wheelchair players is financial: while three nights' hotel accommodation in Madrid and food were paid for by the inviting country, travel costs and any other accommodation costs were entirely at the responsible for the players and volunteer guides. Thus for players from South or Central America, the entry ticket to these championships cost an average of 1500 euros! For European players (excluding Spain), the bill is more around 500 euros.
In the best of cases, they were able to benefit from private sponsorship, but essentially to finance the purchase of outfits in the colors of their countries.

This is what the French players did, who came on site with three blue or tricolor T-shirts from private generosity. Alas, their requests for a small financial boost from the French Tennis Federation received no follow-up, not even a response! That didn't stop them from bringing home bronze from Madrid and spreading the padel French abroad.

On the other hand, the best valid French players were present and united: just before the Worlds, they had recorded, on the initiative of Mélissa Martin, video messages of support to the French team. When the leaders are absent subscribers, there are always the players and the true sports enthusiasts.

The celebration of the bronze medal by the tricolors

“Axel Foley” played for Morocco

The following anecdote aims to make people smile, but above all illustrates the passion that drives the players who participated in these first Worlds. Closed at the last moment, the Moroccan team called in extremis to a Moroccan from France: the sympathetic Ahmed Jeddi, who lives in the Nice region. In a hurry to buy his plane ticket, this good player forgot to deactivate the automatic entry of his details. plane: “Axel Foley”, the name of the character of Eddie Murphy in The Beverly Hills Cop.

Alas, it was only at the airport that Ahmed Jeddi realized his mistake in being denied boarding, despite his attempts to negotiate. After paying €450 for his first ticket, he had to take another €700! A hard pill to swallow when you don't touch Axel Foley's stamp. But for nothing in the world Ahmed would not have wanted to miss this event!

Read our reports from the Madrid Worlds HERE

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme falls into the pot of padel in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves pala in hand! Journalist in Alsace, he has no other ambition than to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.

On the same subject

Tags