Games-Olympic dreams flicker as teqball awards first Asian Games medals

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept 20 — With Spanish soccer great Carles Puyol on board and a growing fan base in Asia, teqball's ambitious global federation is confident that the sport's quirky ​hybrid of soccer and table tennis will one day muscle its way on to the Olympic programme.

Teqball took a small but firm step toward legitimacy on Sunday when it awarded its first Asian Games medals on its debut at the multi-sport event in Nagoya, with ‌Thai athletes claiming three of the five titles.

With capacity for only a few hundred fans, the Higashi Sports Centre was hardly Wembley Stadium but the crowd were impressed by the athletes' skill as ⁠they hoofed the ball back and forth across the sport's signature curved table.

"It's ​an amazing milestone on our journey because the teq world community globally ⁠is dreaming of becoming an Olympic sport one day," International Teqball Federation (ITF) general secretary Laszlo Vajda told Reuters at the venue.

"I'm very confident actually that our debut ‌as a medal sport at the ‌Asian Games will be such an event that the IOC (International Olympic Committee) will recognise that yes, the sport, the venue, ⁠the engagement, the reach, the relevance to young people, the attraction and all that is ⁠in place."

HUNGARIAN ROOTS

Teqball has roots in a training exercise during the golden era of Hungarian soccer in the mid-20th century when players practised "foot-tennis" across a net with a leather ball.

The modern game has come a long way in a short time.

It was conceived a little over a decade ago by two Hungarian friends, a former professional soccer player and a computer scientist, who played around with a soccer ball on a ping pong table.

After refining the table's curve, the duo teamed up with a Hungarian businessman and set about popularising the sport.

The ITF was ‌set up in 2017 and has staged several world championships.

For the uninitiated, the sport might appear a bit ​zany but it is in good company on an Asian Games programme laden with off-beat disciplines such as virtual taekwondo and esports.

Many of them, like teqball, dream of a spot on the Olympics, which means legitimacy, funding and the chance to grow a global fan base.

Teqball is still early on that journey and has been building its social media profile with the help of former soccer names such as ex-Barcelona captain Puyol, who played 100 times for Spain.

Before the Asian Games competition on Sunday, Puyol had a kick-around with a procession of Asian influencers after a clinic with students at a nearby university.

There were no ticket-paying fans watching -- it was all for the social media numbers.

A number ​of top soccer teams, including Manchester United, Paris St Germain and Barcelona, have used teqball tables at their training grounds.

"I think it helps professional players improve technically, and also for warming up," ‌Puyol told Reuters at ‌the competition venue.

"As a sport, ⁠it's growing a lot in many countries. I think the more people play it, the more it will grow, because it's a really fun game and I see it having a big future."

Encouragingly for the sport's Olympic dreams, Asian nations have been enthusiastic adopters.

Teqball has similarities to sepak takraw, the popular Southeast Asian sport, which has players volleying a ball on a badminton-style court.

With Thailand a sepak takraw super-power, the nation has relished the chance for more Asian ‌Games gold as a teqball tyrant.

But it was ​no Southeast Asian shutout -- the spread of Asian Games medallists spanned the continent from Kuwait ‌to Japan.

"I am so happy I could ⁠die right now," said South ​Korea's Lee Jun-suk after beating his Iraqi opponent for the men's singles gold.

"I wanted to be a medallist but I didn't imagine this situation."

(Additional reporting by Irene Wang; ​Editing by Clare Fallon)

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