First medal awarded, Bronze to Spaniards ‘Mixed’ Martinez-Gala

Spain’s Araceli Maria Martinez and 17-year-old baby phenom David Gala made history by winning the first medal awarded to padel at an edition of the European Games in Krakow. In front of a large crowd in the crazy setting of Krakow’s main square, where the padel ‘stadium’ was built for the finals of the three tournaments, Men’s, Mixed, Women’s.

In this final for 3rd and 4th place, the Spanish pair and the French team consisting of Lucile Pothier and Thomas Leygue. The match began with a natural first phase of adaptation to the outdoor court, a few mistakes due to emotion and then the match took off, with Frenchman Pothier imposing the power of his game and a truly extraordinary athletic ability. On the Spanish side, the class of the baby phenom Gala and the constancy of Martinez were no surprise. On 5-4, the French had a chance to close out the set but the Spanish pair managed to impose the counter-break and put the set back on its feet until the final 7-6. Even in the second set, balance reigned until the tie-break: at 3-3, David Gala took the lead and closed the tie-break with three points of power and precision: the scoreboard reads 7-4 for the Spanish pair, the first to win a medal at the European Games.

It was a very tight match, followed passionately by the spectators in the stands, as confirmed by the statistics. Only two more points won by the Spaniards (83 to 81), the same percentage of winning break points (60%) and almost the same percentage of first serves (86% Spain, 84% France). A match won by the Spanish guys by a few details but with full merit.