Candidatures IPF 2021
The International Padel Federation informs you of the NOMINATIONS SUBMITTED for the positions of President and the Board of Directors members to be voted on April 28, 2021
Position of PRESIDENT:
Luigi Carraro:
Nominated by the following members:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Spain
- United States
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- Paraguay
- United Kingdom
- Uruguay
Alfredo Garbisu:
Nominated by the following members:
- Germany,
- Sweden.
Positions of BOARD OF DIRECTORS member:
- Oscar Nicastro – Argentina (Nominated by APA)
- Eduardo Langer – Brazil (Nominated by CoBraPa)
- Ole Egholm – Denmark (Nominated by DPF)
- Ramón Morcillo – Spain (Nominated by FEP)
- Sergio Ortíz – United States (Nominated by USPA)
- Roberto Pellegrini – Italy (Nominated by FIT)
- Koji Nakatsuka – Japan (Nominated by JPA)
- José Luis García Frapolli – Mexico (Nominated by FeMePa)
- Jorge Ramírez Vidal – Paraguay (Nominated by FeParPa)
- Christopher Chavane – Senegal (Nominated by APS)
In compliance with the provisions of our Statutes, the following nominations are VALID and accepted:
PRESIDENT:
- Luigi Carraro
- Alfredo Garbisu
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
- Oscar Nicastro – Argentina
- Eduardo Langer – Brazil
- Ramón Morcillo – Spain
- Sergio Ortíz – United States
- Roberto Pellegrini – Italy
- Koji Nakatsuka – Japan
- José Luis García Frapolli – Mexico
- Jorge Ramírez Vidal – Paraguay
Please consider that the nominations for the position of President submitted by Australia and Japan do not comply with article 18.2 of our Statutes and thus cannot be considered, as the national teams of the abovementioned federations have not participated in at least four World Championships.
On the other hand, the nomination of Mr. Chavene as Board member submitted by Senegal cannot be accepted, as the federation of Senegal joined the IPF on 1 January 2019 and does not meet the requirement of three years of membership under article 17.3.(i).b of our Statutes. Furthermore, the nomination of Mr. Egholm as Board member submitted by Denmark cannot be accepted, as the federation of Denmark has not participated in at least four absolute World Championships (as per art. 17.3.(i) of the Statutes).
CAS decision
The Executive Board of the International Padel Federation (“IPF”) hereby provides you with the following information relating to the 3 appeals that the Portuguese Padel Federation (“PPF”) with its President Ricardo Da Silva Oliveira filed against the IPF.
In all 3 proceedings, the highest body of sports justice has ruled in favor of the IPF.
Further details follow.
On 4 February 2021, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has issued the arbitral awards in the 3 appeal proceedings filed by the PPF against the IPF with respect to:
- the provisional suspension of the PPF and its President Ricardo Da Silva Oliveira decided by the Disciplinary Committee of the IPF on 17 September 2019 in relation to the organization of a parallel European Padel Championships in Portugal in November 2019;
- the resolutions passed by the IPF during the General Assembly of 18 October 2019;
- the disciplinary sanctions imposed on the PPF and its President Ricardo Da Silva Oliveira by the Appeal Committee of the IPF on 20 January 2020.
The ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport has been the following:
- the appeal of the PPF has been rejected, because PPF had no standing to appeal in relation to the provisional suspension imposed by the Disciplinary Committee on 17 September 2019, given that such decision was superseded by the final decision issued by the Appeals Committee of the IPF on 20 January 2020. The PPF has been condemned to reimburse legal expenses to the IPF;
- the full legitimacy of all resolutions of the IPF General Assembly of 18 October 2019 has been affirmed and the PPF has been condemned to reimburse legal expenses to the IPF. In particular, the CAS has denied all claims and allegations of the PPF, finding that:
- during the Assembly meeting there was no need to vote on maintaining the PPF’s provisional suspension, given that such suspension had been imposed by the disciplinary bodies of the IPF;
- the Lawn Tennis Association, the Federacion Nacional Padel Chile, the Federazione Italiana Tennis and the Monaco Padel Federation all had the right to participate in the Assembly meeting in their capacity of affiliate members;
- no reasons existed to vote in relation to the affiliation to the IPF of Femexpadel;
- the allocation of voting rights within the IPF – with affiliate members having different numbers of votes – is fully compliant with Swiss Law;
- no IPF rules or regulations provide for means to remove the President of IPF prior to the expiration of the statutory 4-year term; consequently, any request to this aim from an affiliate member must be dismissed;
- the audit of the 2018 IPF’s account had been made in compliance with the IPF’s rules and regulations;
- no violation of the rights of non-English-speaking affiliate members had been committed during the Assembly meeting;
- no violations of the rules governing the secret ballot – asked for by the Spanish Federation in relation to many deliberations – occurred;
- the full legitimacy of the 7-month suspension imposed on the PPF and its President Ricardo Da Silva Oliveira and the pecuniary sanction imposed on the PPF has been confirmed, the CAS finding that the organization of any international competition by an IPF affiliate member without the authorization of the IPF represents a serious violation of the IPF Disciplinary Regulations;
- the pecuniary sanctions imposed on the PPF for renouncing to the organization of the Minor Championships 2019 and for applying for the registration of trademarks referring to padel international competitions have been canceled for the following reasons:
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- no contract had been signed between IPF and PPF for the organization of the Minor Championships;
- all trademark applications of the PPF had been rejected by the EUIPO;
- the PPF has been condemned to reimburse legal expenses to the IPF.
The decisions of the Court of Arbitration for Sport have been received by the IPF Board as a high-profile confirmation of the key role of the IPF in the international padel arena and the good management of the current administration of the IPF, as well as an incentive to defend the interest of our affiliate members who keep working hard, day after day, for the development of padel in their territories and in the whole world.
The IPF, far from celebrating this result, deems it essential to draw the attention of all affiliate members, all of them having the same rights and obligations, to the key value of mutual respect, which must prevail over any difference, endorsing the solidity of sports institutions and their leaders around the world who make great efforts to improve day by day.
Once again, we invite all members to cooperate alongside the IPF for the success of our projects, that are beneficial for all national federations and will be even more successful if we all work together.
DECISIVE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE INTERNATIONAL PADEL FEDERATION (FIP) and WORLD PÁDEL TOUR (WPT)
A new category is created, the player participation restrictions are reduced, and the number of tournaments increased to generate more revenue for professional Padel players.
World Padel Tour and the International Padel Federation have taken a decisive new step to consolidate the competitive structures of Padel globally. Besides the STAR, RISE, and PROMOTION categories, a new, higher-ranking FIP tournament, called FIP GOLD, is created, counting as well for the unified WPT-FIP ranking. In addition, both organizations have agreed to reduce ranking restrictions, allowing more players to participate in them with the aim of ensuring a more ambitious competitive offer that will allow to add more points and increase revenue.
In mid-2019, the International Padel and World Padel Tour Federation launched an ambitious framework of collaboration in order to provide the high-competition with a solid structure at the global level that would allow establishing the paths to be followed by players and federations of the five continents in order to reach the highest level represented by the Professional Circuit.
Back then, the creation of a unified ranking and the establishment of a series of tournaments with different categories and scores were decisive in establishing a solid base. Now, because of the continuous conversations and work meetings that both organizations hold regularly, a new category called FIP GOLD was born. In the already existence of the FIP STAR, FIP RISE, and FIP PROMOTION tournaments, the new FIP GOLD category definitively completes the stage for high-level players, offering players around the world a full competition offer that involves all possible levels of the WPT-FIP ranking and perfectly complements the World Padel Tour.
All four categories will count for the WPT-FIP ranking and will maintain proportionality in the score table to favor a dynamic situation in position variation. It is therefore the birth of a vital category for the large number of players who seek to access the positions of the privilege of the ranking and who thus find an ideal competition for their purposes.
Comparative table:
The President of the International Federation, Luigi Carraro, values this agreement by stating that
“The mission of internationalizing Padel and helping the National Federations to develop having tournaments that gives the possibility of approaching the professional circuit, World Padel Tour, is great news for all. We build the basis of our relationship with WPT with the same objective: to increase the number of players of different nationalities and to give the best players in each country a chance to see themselves in an international ranking, giving more visibility to our sport. With this agreement, we not only consolidate all sections of the ranking by improving the status of professional players, but also improve the organizational capacity of all federations that already include important tournaments to their calendars, in that sense, I hope to continue collaborating with WPT to place Padel among the most important sports.”
For his part, World Padel Tour CEO Mario Hernando points out that:
“This is an important step forward for the consolidation of the global structure of elite Padel worldwide. Two seasons ago, World Padel Tour and the International Padel Federation set the clear goal of putting the necessary wickers to allow the growth of players from all countries to the top of WPT tournaments. The first stone was the unification of the ranking and now, with this new scenario, the calendar is definitively drawn for hundreds of players with professional aspirations. FIP and WPT will continue to work together to further improve Padel and place it among the biggest in professional sport.”
Despite the enormous difficulties generated by the global health situation and mobility restrictions in the organization of sporting events, a situation that both the FIP and the WPT faced in 2020 achieving an incredibly significant number of tournaments for the main benefit of the players, and with the sustained objective of continuing the development of Padel around the world. Both WPT and FIP are confident that they will be able to complete a calendar in 2021 as planned and thus allow this agreement to demonstrate the great advance that it represents for the specialty.
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