(ATR) Madagascar is the third stop on the Teqball Roadshow as the ambitious tour continues to shine a spotlight on the fast-growing sport.
General Secretary Marius Vizer Jr. leads the FITEQ delegation, which includes instructors who are helping coaches and referees gain official qualifications through weeklong courses.
The visit began with Madagascar’s National Challenger Series Round 3 as Manambitsoa Judicael Andriatsitoaina, a rising star at age 14, won the singles competition. The roadshow will conclude with Round 4, and then cumulative results from all four rounds will determine Madagascar’s representatives to the World Championships later this year.
The Teqball Roadshow launched in Djibouti on Feb. 19, introducing the "Table of Peace" program by donating equipment to three refugee camps. The roadshow then bounced from the Horn of Africa to Uzbekistan in early March to support the inauguration of the new national federation. FITEQ also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Uzbekistan Ministry of Education to promote the sport and help the national federation establish a network of partners such as broadcasters, sponsors and government organizations at the local, regional and national level.
As FITEQ seeks to inspire future generations to live healthier and more active lifestyles, it recently welcomed six additional national federations to bring the total number to 102 in early March. Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Norway, Gabon, Togo and Trinidad and Tobago are the latest countries to receive FITEQ recognition. The number of national federations has doubled in less than a year from the previous milestone of 50 in April 2020.
The Teqball Roadshow will visit about one third of these federations in the coming months, with travel planned to more than 30 nations across five continents.
"The Teqball Roadshow is an excellent way for FITEQ to connect with prospective and recognized national federations and ensure they have all the necessary tools to develop teqball in their countries in a sustainable way," Vizer said. "The pandemic has, of course, hindered our ability to travel the world and meet with the teqball family, and whilst the sport has continued to grow at an impressive rate over the past 12 months, the roadshow is enabling us to help our federations accelerate their progress in all areas.
"We’re looking to build on our recent milestone of surpassing 100 national federations and achieve our vision of teqball being available to everyone in the world."
Teqball was created in Hungary in 2012 and aspires to eventually join the Olympic program. The football (soccer)-based sport is played on a specially-curved table on surfaces including sand, acrylic or indoors and is now practiced by an estimated 2,000 athletes in more than 100 countries across five continents.
Teqball will make its debut as a medal sport in the Sanya Asian Beach Games and will be a demonstration sport at the Bangkok-Chonburi Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
The Teqball Roadshow is focused on providing high-level leadership support in key areas such as education, governance, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, competitions and club development.
FITEQ launched a Club Development Program in April 2020 to complement its National Federation Development Program, which began a year earlier. By providing a structured framework for building a worldwide network of clubs and players, national federations are able to give elite athletes the platform to flourish while maximizing the growth of grassroots participation.
As a non-profit organization, FITEQ continuously invests revenue into the future of the sport. The international federation offers financial, educational and practical support to its national federations and equips them with the tools to develop teqball in a self-sustainable way. More than 100 national federations have received FITEQ support through grants of 6,000 Euros to each federation. Participating countries also receive a Teq table donation and discounts on additional tables.
According to FITEQ, key goals for national federations to achieve are: good health and wellbeing; gender equality; reduced inequalities; sustainable cities and communities; climate action; peace, justice and strong institutions; and partnerships for the goals.
Athletes, called Teqers, are allowed a maximum of three touches before returning the ball (size five balls used in football/soccer) to the opponent. The non-contact sport is gender equitable, with games played between two singles players or four doubles players irrespective of gender. A match consists of best-of-three sets and each set is played until a player or team reaches 12 points.
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