The pilotaris and their leaders felt the wind of the ball. Threatened to lose its status as a “high level sport”, the Basque pelota finally managed to keep it. The Minister for Sports, Roxana Maracineanu announced this Sunday, December 12. A relief for the French Federation (FFPB) in full preparation for the World Championships in Biarritz (October 2022).
An important source of funding
The renewal of the status of “high level sport”, awarded by the Ministry for four years, is a real breath of fresh air. “It’s important because it defines budgets, financial means”, recognizes Lilou Echeverria, the president of the Federation. The grant amounts to 171,400 euros for the FFBP.
It is in particular an important resource for pole funding hopes of Bayonne, Toulouse and Reunion, as well as the training centers de Pau and Bordeaux and their educators.
A crucial status for the pelotaris
This status is also crucial for the 210 high-level sports pelotaris. In particular, it grants them advantages and amenities when they pass competitions and allows them to enter into agreements with employers to enable them to follow an intensive sports preparation while exercising their profession.
“This aid will allow us to function normally at least until the end of October 2022”, welcomes Lilou Echeverria. Without the status, the preparation for the World Championships in Biarritz in 10 months would have been “much more complicated”. The France team will be able to approach this important deadline more calmly. It must indeed defend at home its status as the best nation during the previous Worlds in Barcelona in October 2018.
The ball no longer met the criteria
A result which did not allow the French Basque pelota to automatically retain its status. The “high level” is in fact automatically granted to Olympic and Paralympic sports. For other disciplines, including pelota, it is revised every 4 years, at the end of each Olympiad according to criteria of universality and results. These criteria were modified 2 years ago, just before the end of the previous Olympiad (2016-2020), and the Basque pelota no longer fulfilled them.
The opinion issued last summer by the Agence Nationale du Sport (ANS) was therefore not very encouraging for the French Federation, which risked losing the status acquired without discontinuity since 1983. But the final decision rests with the Minister for Sports. It would seem, recognizes Lilou Echeverria, that “thanks to the help of people who have supported and helped us”, the scales have finally tipped in the right direction.