THE Padel Paper can confirm the inclusion of female padel players within the Premier Padel competition framework is very much on the agenda.
As we revealed last week the absence of a women’s event at the Paris Premier Padel Major at Roland Garros recently, which culminated with Spanish superstars Alejandro Galan and Juan Lebron claiming 47,300 Euros each after an epic three-set victory over Argentina’s Federico Chingotto and Juan Tello, was glaring.
Something that was made worse by the fact that the rival World Padel Tour are now offering equal prize money at their tournaments.
Last year in Spain’s premier domestic cup tournament, the Copa del Rey, a majority of female players refused to enter after it was revealed the Spanish Federation were paying their male counterparts resulting in a women’s entry shockingly in single digits.
This inequality has been further brought under the spotlight with developments in other sports, notably squash, cycling and football.
For some years squash has provided equal prize money for male and female players. And last weekend saw the successful launch of the Tour de France Femmes, the first proper women’s Tour de France.
The success of the women’s football Euros currently taking place in the UK is part of a growing movement to provide equal opportunities, and rewards, for female players.
In our exclusive interview last Friday, GB women’s international Hansie Ruddick said: “It’s a shame it is just the men’s game being showcased in the Premier Padel events and nothing representing the women’s game.”
However, Ziad Hammoud, one of the key members of the Premier Padel Board of Directors, speaking in an interview with Spanish outlet Marca, has confirmed things are about to change. He said: “In Premier Padel there have to be men and women, it is what we want.
“From Premier Padel we are doing a lot of work to try to reach that. I agree that the Premier Padel circuit has to be mixed and that’s what we want, what the players want, and what the promoters want.
“We are very confident in reaching an agreement. I think it’s just a matter of time.”
Meanwhile, there was a further boost for the women’s game’s hopes of inclusion at the elite FIP events when Luigi Carraro, the President of the International Padel Federation, speaking in another Spanish outlet, Olé, revealed:
“We are still in dialogue with the Women’s Players Association. In recent weeks we have had the most important meetings with women. We want to have them inside Premier Padel. They have been more concrete meetings that let me be very positive for the future.
“I am very positive about the future.”
