Hungarian-invented sport Teqball has its sights set on becoming an Olympic sport and was recently included in the GAISF.
Teqball was created by three soccer enthusiasts in 2012. The inventors include; former professional soccer player, Gábor Borsányi, Viktor Huszár, a computer scientist, and György Gattyán, a billionaire businessman.
The game is a blend of soccer and ping pong that is played on a curved table. The players can hit the soccer ball with any part of their body, excluding arms and hands. The game, like ping pong, can be played as a singles(2 people) or doubles(4 people). Each set is played until the first team reaches 12 points in a set, the game ends with one team winning the best-of-three sets.
The game is recognized at an international level by the International Federation of Teqball (FITEQ). The first Teqball World Championship was held in Budapest three years ago. A year after the championship was hosted in France and then again in Budapest.
The game made its way to Africa and was first played in 2019 at the African Beach Games in Sal, Cape Verde. The sport is also set to be played at the 2021 Asian Beach Games, which was originally supposed to be held in 2020 but were postponed due to the pandemic.
As of Sunday, the FITEQ was granted full membership to GAISF. FITEQ joins 95 other members in GAISF which brings together both Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations.
With this inclusion, Teqball’s founders are optimistic of its potential to be included among the top sports in the world played at the Olympic Games. Depending on the decision of the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee to support the Hungarian sport, the earliest the game could be seen is in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.
György Gattyán, one of the founders and vice president of FITEQ, said: “This decision is also the success of Hungarian sports diplomacy, which all Hungarians can be proud of...”, adding that he hopes the country can push for Hungarian sports together at the Summer Olympics.
Photo credit: Teqball.com