The Italian Pickleball Tour (11 stops around the country) lands in Bologna. The sporting discipline which in the United States involves over 10% of the population (around 36 million practitioners) is slowly growing numerically in our country too and being a “cousin” of tennis, padel, table tennis and badminton, it could not fail to have a national circuit, in which foreign players can also participate.
The fourth stage will be held in the most “American” regional capital in Italy, namely Bologna. The dates to mark with the red circle are Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd June (from 9am to 7pm) and the location will be the Corticelli Sports Centre, a stone’s throw from the Dall’Ara Stadium.
Eight courts, almost 200 players, coming from 6 nations and 3 different continents, men’s, women’s and mixed doubles tournaments, with a technical subdivision: on Saturday the least qualified play, with a level called 3.5, while on Sunday the best play, those level 5.0.
Thanks to a sponsor (Espresso Bolognese), each participant will be given a technical game shirt as a gift.
But who are pickleball players? Some come, obviously, from padel, others from tennis, many, however, from beach tennis. It is a preparatory sport for children who then want to move on to tennis and more suitable than padel for people who are no longer very young and who perhaps struggle to pass a competitive medical examination. But be careful, at high levels, pickleball has impressive physical and technical qualities; the best are athletes with a capital A.
In Bologna the Bologna Pickleball Team reigns supreme with the two Stefanos, namely Stefano Lodi and Stefano Bortolotti, on the bridge and it is played, during the week, always at the Corticelli Sports Centre, even though by now, in metropolitan Bologna there are already several sports centers that offer pickleball among the proposed disciplines.
And who are the favourites? Bologna offers Luca Sassaroli, number 10 in the national rankings, while in the women’s field, Samantha Mantovani is in seventh place in the ranking, but, as always, for a young sport like pickleball, a surprise can always be around the corner…
2024-05-25 15:49:06
#ITALIAN #PICKLEBALL #TOUR #LANDS #BOLOGNA
