LGBTQ padel teams from Rocks Lane and Stratford Padel Club came back from the Euro Games in Vienna laden with medals last weekend.
The Euro Games, which were founded in 1992, provide a safe space for everyone to come together and play sports and are oriented towards LGBTIQ+ athletes. Padel was included on the Games’ programme for the first time this year and drew a multi-cultural entry of 68 to the nine-court indoor Padeldome Erdberg in the Austrian capital.
A group of eight players from All-Out Padel, based at Rocks Lane in Chiswick, flew out to take part, plus a further 10 from Stratford Padel Club.
The All-Out Padel team was led by Lance Shacknofsky, originally from Australia, who helped found the group in April 2023. “It’s the first time we’d ever done anything like this before,” he told The Padel Paper.
“What was amazing about this trip was going away together as friends and padel partners and bonding and having a fun time. It was more than the padel, it was also about having a really great holiday together.”
The teams from All-Out Padel and Stratford Padel Club knew each other only tenuously before the trip, but are now firm friends and are discussing a tournament between the two groups.
Lance added: “We didn’t know any padel players from overseas but in Vienna we started to make connections. The Belgian boys wanted to organise tournaments between ourselves and the Spanish are inviting us to a tournament in September.”
Levels in Vienna ranged from beginners to intermediate and advanced with players taking part from as far away as South Africa and Finland.
Stratford players Chris Buckmaster and Luis Melo dos Santos won gold medals in the advanced category, Lance and David Rey took home gold in the men’s intermediate, while Fred Levendale and Matthew Dowdeswell won the men’s beginners’ title.
“Many thanks to Rocks Lane for sponsoring our t-shirts,” said Lance. “They made us feel like a proper gang! We’re already talking about entering the Gay Games in Valencia in 2026!”
STATFORD PADEL CLUB WINNERS IN VIENNA
Advanced
Gold – Chris Buckmaster + Luis Melo dos Santos
Silver – Brendan Kilcawley + Lucas Pepe Martinez
Intermediate
Silver – Fabian Valencia
ALL–OUT PADEL WINNERS
Intermediate
Gold – David Rey + Lance Shacknofsky
Bronze – Anthony Plotnek + John Kat
Beginners
Gold – Fred Levendale + Matthew Dowdeswell
Non Binary/Mix doubles
Bronze – Sudhir Daya
