FIP Juniors European Padel Championships, the young talents’ show in Budapest Carraro: “Have fun, be friends and dream, because the future of padel is you”
September 1, 2024
The great celebration of the opening ceremony, with the parade of teams, opened in Budapest (Hungary) the FIP Juniors European Championships, the continental team tournament dedicated to young talents with which the International Padel Federation confirms its commitment to the future of the discipline.
From September 2nd to 7th, 16 men’s and 12 women’s teams will take the court for the European title. Once again the challenge will be to Spain: two years ago it was the Spaniards, in the Valencia edition, who triumphed at both men’s and women’s level, with Portugal and Italy completing the podium among the men and Sweden and Italy respectively second and third among the women.
CARRARO “It’s is a great emotion for me and for the entire padel world to be here in Hungary – said FIP President, Luigi Carraro -. This is the second edition of the FIP Juniors European Padel Champinships, after the one played in Spain, and for me it’s a dream to be playing in a country that is hosting a great event for the first time. For this I want to thank the Hungarian Padel Federation, its president, Peter Kerekes, and the team of his Federation. It’s an honour to have Pál Schmitt here, a fantastic person and a reference not only for the Olympic movement in this country, but for the entire sport worldwide. And if a sportsman of Pal’s experience says that padel will be an Olympic sport, I believe that our dream is getting closer and closer to reality”.
“Tomorrow the tournament will begin for all of you – added Carraro -. A competition that will remain in your hearts and memories for a lifetime: you are here, you are competing, but you are also having fun. Playing and competing for your country is the greatest emotion you can have in life. What I ask of you is to enjoy every single minute of this tournament. I ask you to fight your best on the court, but to be friends with your teammates and those of the other teams. I’m sure you all look up to the great players of Premier Padel and the CUPRA FIP Tour: Ale Galan, Paquito Navarro, Agustin Tapia and many others. You must be aware that the future of padel is you: you are the new Tapia, the new Ortega, you are the future of great padel competitions. So have fun, keep training as you are doing now and this will be your big party”.
SCHMITT “It’s a great honour and a great pleasure to be here in front of you, as a former Olympic fencing champion”. Thus spoke former Hungarian fencer and sports executive Pál Schmitt, who won two gold medals at the Olympic Games in 1968 in Mexico City and in 1972 in Munich. Schimtt was also vice-president of the IOC (1995-1999), president of the Hungarian Olympic Committee from 1989 to 2010 and president of the Hungarian Republic from 2010 to 2012. “I sincerely hope, from the bottom of my heart, that padel will become an Olympic sport by 2032, for the edition in Brisbane – he said –. We are working on it and you are working on it too. Padel is the fastest growing sport worldwide, with around 30 million players and almost 100 countries having joined the international federation. The president of the Hungarian federation, Peter Kerekes, has worked tirelessly for the growth of the sport and now all of my three daughters and six grandchildren play padel”. Then a message to the young athletes: “Next week, after the tournament, school will start: when you return home you must continue to study and learn, because you can show your great talent in both sport and study. In the meantime, I wish you all the best and make friends because padel is not just a sport but a community“.
KEREKES “When the opportunity came to apply for the organisation of the FIP Juniors European Padel Championships we gave it our all”, said Peter Kerekes, president of the Hungarian Padel Federation. “We did it as any athlete would do when faced with a great challenge. A great effort to which the FIP contributed, which we thank for the support”. Kerekes then addressed the athletes: “Some of you here will become superstars, some of you will play in the national team will go to the Olympics, some of you will become coaches. But most importantly, when I look around here, I see that friendships are already being made. So guys, enjoy it. Look around, you will meet a lot of friends here. You will have a lot of fun, that’s the most important thing about padel”.
DRAWS The draws for the four men’s and women’s groups were then made during the ceremony. In the men’s tournament, in addition to the teams already qualified by ranking, Estonia, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany, who were promoted to the final phase after qualifying, also qualify. Below are the complete groups.
MEN
Group A: Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany
Group B: Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Norway
Group C: Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Estonia
Group D: Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Denmark
WOMEN
Group A: Spain, Netherlands, Germany
Group B: Sweden, Hungary, Estonia
Group C: Italy, Belgium, Czech Republic
Group D: France, Portugal, Finland
