Padel news: ‘Padel is the most inclusive sport in the world’ – Paralympian Alessandro Ossola
Italian Paralympian and motivational speaker Alessandro Ossola, founder of the Inclusive Padel Tour, is hoping to make padel the most inclusive sport in the world.
In a recent interview with Gulf News, Ossola emphasised the nature of padel as an inclusive sport, where anyone – regardless of age and ability – can participate.
“Padel is one of the few sports I can play standing while still performing at a high level. And anyone can play, that’s the beauty of it,” he stated.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Shameeka Voyiya reports on the story.
From motorcycle accident to Paralympian
Ossola’s life changed dramatically following a motorcycle accident that cost him his leg in 2015.
Rather than step back from sport altogether, he subsequently discovered a passion for sprinting and padel.
“I started training again right after completing physiotherapy,” he explained.
“I had a strong desire to return to a full life.”
The 37-year-old’s “full life” entailed representing Italy at the 2020 and 2025 Paralympic Games and winning bronze at the European Championships.
Ossola’s venture into padel then emerged from his desire for a new challenge.
“Padel is the most inclusive sport in the world,” the Italian declared.
“After two Paralympic Games and a bronze at the European Championships, I wanted something new, something that keeps pushing my limits.”
The inclusive nature of padel
The Inclusive Padel Tour was founded in 2021 when Ossola realised after a padel game that, by adding only one rebound for disabled players, the game could become the inclusive sport of the future.
Padel’s smaller court size, easy-to-understand rules, and doubles format already make the sport highly accessible, with easily adaptable rules to suit each player type’s needs.
For example, wheelchair padel allows players to hit the ball after it has bounced twice.
Inclusive Padel Tour has since grown into a first-of-its-kind platform for disabled players and now features over 90 players of eight nationalities.
“We have over 80 players from around the world competing across three continents,” Ossola claimed.
“From Dubai to Rome, Miami to Nice, each event is proof that sport can be a bridge, not a barrier.”
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