Is Teqball the New Pickleball?

Niche sports like breaking and skateboarding are finally getting their Olympic due in Paris this summer, but another lesser-known game is quickly gaining traction back here in Canada. Teqball, invented in Hungary in 2014, is best described as a combination of soccer and table tennis played on a curved table. Thanks to its Matrix-like moves and highlight-reel-worthy rallies, the game has more than earned its reputation as one of the most difficult sports to pick up. That hasn’t stopped it from growing fast: later this year, a series of eight national-level teqball tournaments will take place in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

Robert Kertesz will be there. Kertesz, a 29-year-old hardwood flooring specialist from Toronto, is currently the country’s highest-ranking male player (in both singles and doubles teqball) and has so far represented Canada at international competitions in Thailand, Brazil, Germany and the U.S. Here, he explains how he caught the teqball bug, his magic moves and why Canada’s new favourite game deserves its rising popularity and, maybe one day, its own event at the Olympics.

Before I fall any deeper into my rabbit hole of teqball rallies on YouTube, maybe you can tell me how the game works.

Teqball games can be played between single players or doubles teams. The gameplay is similar to that of racquet sports, except you use your body in place of a racquet. In a teqball rally, one team serves the ball, and then the other team returns it across the table within three touches or less. No individual player can touch the ball with the same body part twice in a row, and never with their hands and arms. Games end once one side earns 12 points, and matches are typically played as a best of three.

So it’s soccer–Ping Pong? And a little harder than pickleball?

I’ve never tried pickleball, but I suspect that teqball is much harder. You need excellent coordination, creativity and lots of patience, especially when you’re learning. When I first started, I couldn’t lift my legs very high. Gymnastics experience would have served me well.  I had none whatsoever.

How did you get involved with teqball?

My family moved from Hungary to Toronto in 2000, when I was five years old. In 2018, Akos Prekop, a family friend of ours, told us that a new sport—teqball—had become popular back home. Originally, teqball players used Ping Pong tables, but after a while, they invented a new, curved table that allowed for faster rallies and harder hits. When teqball started catching on in other countries—and those countries established teqball federations of their own—Hungarian manufacturers sold the tables internationally. It was Akos who established the Canadian Teqball Federation and shipped those tables to Canada. 

After that, a handful of players started practising in parks around Toronto and in a local gym lent to the federation by the Hungarian Parish. Akos pestered me to play—he thought I’d have the skills, because I played competitive soccer before giving it up in my early twenties. I had no interest in teqball, mainly because I worked full-time. Then, one day in 2021, I did a rally with Akos. I got really angry at how difficult it was; it required way more ball control than soccer. That’s how I caught the bug.

You were one of the first teqball players in Canada. Where did you compete?

At first, I felt like I had to leave the country to enter competitions. We only had about a dozen players here, whereas some countries like Hungary, Brazil and Thailand had teqball clubs and hundreds of participants. My first tournament was in 2021, at a small beach in Miami. A few months later, I was invited to play for the newly formed Team Canada at the World Championships in Germany. I expected to be squashed and sent home, but I pulled off a win against a player from Kyrgyzstan.

What’s your secret?

I have good reflexes. I can easily intercept a smash—also known as a hard hit—and set myself up to attack. Teqball is also still in its infancy, so there’s an opportunity to quickly climb the ranks. Right now, the best teqball players come from other sports, like soccer or sepak takraw, a game from southeast Asia that’s like playing volleyball with your feet. A good comparison is UFC: in its early days, most of the pro players were jiu-jitsu or boxing specialists. It’s exciting. People are redefining how to play teqball every year. We don’t know what the ceiling is.

How do you train for a sport that doesn’t have much of a blueprint?

I worked on my ball control and did a lot of stretching and mobility exercises. You need nimble hips to kick from a high angle. Still, I had nobody to practise with. I would just set myself up, smash and intercept the rebound alone at my own table. There was no real way to practise defense. 

When did your current partner come into play?

Two years ago, I recruited Milan Zsibok, the son of the owner of my club, Toronto Teqball. Like me, he wasn’t interested in playing until I challenged and beat him handily. (My practices are more interactive now.) Milan and I eventually formed a doubles team; he is a strong offensive player, whereas I am best on defence. In June, we qualified for the Teqball World Series tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where we made it to the final 16 teams.

Do you think Canada is poised to become a teqball powerhouse?

We still have a ways to go. Hungary is especially strong, as is Brazil, due to its soccer prowess. Thailand has sepak takraw players who have mastered the “roll spike,” where you smash the ball with your foot onto the table mid-backflip, then land on your feet. I can’t do that yet. I’m nonetheless happy with how Canadian players are progressing.  

How so? 

Clubs have popped up in Vancouver, Quebec City and Montreal. In Toronto, ours is now 15 players deep. This year, teqball was also one of the featured sports at the GOOD Games, Canada’s biggest sports festival, which was held in Guelph. That being said, teqball still doesn’t have an official national sport organization, which means we don’t receive government funding. Sometimes FITEQ, our international governing body, gives us travel subsidies so we can attend tournaments. Other times, we pay out of pocket.

Less established sports like breaking and skateboarding were included in the summer Olympics for the first time this year. Do you think teqball will ever make the cut?

If it did, that would be life-changing. It would probably mean that I could play it on a full-time basis, instead of balancing it with 40-to-50-hour work weeks. FITEQ is pushing for teqball to be considered for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, or for 2032 in Brisbane. That would help professionalize the sport and pour money into it. We could afford to bolster teqball’s technology, like with video replays. Right now, referees have to make calls using their best judgment.

What is your ultimate personal goal?

In September, I’m going to a competition in Beijing, and later this year, Milan and I will be representing Canada in doubles at the World Championships. Mainly, my goal is to model my game after the best: Bogdan Marojevic from Serbia for his devastating headers and Leonardo Lindoso from Brazil for his superhuman reflexes. In terms of moves, there’s the “harvester,” a soft kick done with a spin, and the “bicycle kick,” an overhead kick done while facing away from the table. I want to master them all.