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EFE
Updated
They started painting tracks pickleball with chalk on Peru and last October they organized the first world cup of this sport. Hercilio and Miranda Cabiesesbrothers and organizers of the Lima 2024 Pickleball World Cupthey already have a new challenge ahead of them. The greatest of all: making this sport Olympic in 2036.
“Us We are the only international pickleball tournament where players can wear their country’s jersey“, Miranda tells EFE about theto World Cup that was played in Lima and that took Puerto Rico after six days of competition. “It is very important to reach the Olympics having the diversity of countries competing, such as Chinese Taipei, Cayman Islands, Bermuda… It’s a very advanced step for what’s coming in the future.”
If he padel came to compete with the tennisundisputed king of the racketpickleball puts these two in a bind by further simplifying the game and adding a social component.
“It’s a very accessible and very familiar sport. It’s the beauty of sport, that everyone can play it. I can play with my father or my grandfather, not like in tennis, which is a much larger court and I can’t communicate with them,” adds Miranda.
“The clubs began to convert a field by painting the linesfour fit. You can meet 20 or 30 people because it is a very sociable experience. Here In the United States I have seen parks where “x” time ago there were two pickleball courts and now there are eight. Here in Peru we started painting them with chalk,” says Hercilio, who would hardly have been convinced that, after putting aside his career as a tennis player, he would become a reference in piclekball in South America thanks to his foundation, the support of the Peruvian Government, sponsors and agreements with international federations.
CHEMA KING
Four months after the Lima World Cup, in which they met 32 delegations and more than 500 playersMiranda and Hercilio want to look further into a sport that already has a professional circuit in the United States, yel Pickleball World Tourwith a lot of presence in Asia.
“To become Olympic it is necessary for us all to work towards the same goal. We must work with international federations, so that the sport becomes widespread and that the infrastructures are carried out to be able to develop the sport. Not only the infrastructure in terms of tracks, but also be able to create a world circuit“, adds Hercilio.
Among the celebrities who practice this sport, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Gates and Emma Watsonwhile LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes and Nick Kyrgios They have put several million euros into the American circuit.
In it United Kingdomthere is the thought that the Pickleball can be a more profitable economic solution than tennis and paddle tennis for its smaller space and the simplicity of converting a tennis court into four for this sport. In five years, more than 500 tracks have been created and the number of players has grown from 2,000 to 35,000approximately.
“It is a sport that spreads so quickly and at the same time is so inclusive that everyone can play. The World Cup that we have organized has donated all the money raised to children and para-athletes. No registration has been charged, the paddles and balls are given away, to be able to expand the sport further,” concludes Miranda, who is confident that pickleball will also be in the Lima 2027 Pan American Games.
