Padel player injured by shattered glass as operator insists courts are safe

A padel player was left with cuts on his arm and face after crashing into a glass pane whilst playing the sport. 

Elton Caruana had been taking part in a game of the racquet-based sport but was left with nasty injuries to his body after the glass "shattered violently" on Tuesday evening. 

In a Facebook post he showed the aftermath of the incident, which had scattered countless shards of glass over the court in Pembroke. 

Caruana blamed IK Padel, the largest operator on the island, for "complete abandonment of responsibility" after he claimed staff did not check on him.

The Facebook post by Elton Caruana. Photo: Facebook

"No first aid. No concern. No safety protocol. No basic human decency," he said.

"I was bleeding from the head, with glass all around me, and I was left completely alone. This shows a total lack of training, organisation, and care for the people who use their facilities."

A representative of 1K Padel disputed his claims, explaining how one of the company's coaches remained with the injured player until an ambulance arrived.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Caruana said he spent all night at the hospital, where his injuries were cleaned from the shattered glass. He said he had stitches and a CT scan. 

He said he was running to reach the ball when his shoulder hit the glass, and it shattered, which resulted in him falling right through it and falling on the glass.

"This glass is meant to be there to protect the players, just in case we are running very fast and do not manage to slow down," he said

"One person came and seemed to be more interested in the glass than me. My friend had to call the ambulance, and this one person only provided me with tissues for my injuries."

IK Padel denies claims

Padel is a racket sport that has boomed in Malta in recent years. IK Padel is the country's largest padel operator, with 25 courts across Malta. 

Speaking to Times of Malta, the IK Padel representative said the court is well-equipped with first aid, and the site also has a defibrillator.

"We are not happy with the accident and that a player was injured, but the statements that there was no first aid or that he was left alone are not correct," the representative said.

The representative said one of the company's coaches, who was on the opposite pitch finishing off a lesson, went to aid Caruana. He said the coach cleared the glass next to the player, provided him with tissues and stayed with him until an ambulance arrived.

"When our court taker was informed of the accident, he immediately went to the first aid station, but when he returned to the court, the ambulance had already arrived," he said, highlighting how all the took around "five minutes" after the accident.

The IK Luxol padel first aid kit. Photo: IK Padel representative

"From our end, we have everything in place for the safety of our players," he added. 

The representative said that in the past five years, since the company began operating in Malta, it has had three cases of the court's glass wall shattering. 

He said the tempered court glass could break when a player accidentally falls on the glass, specifically in the corner, or when a player is wearing jewellery and accidentally hits the glass. 

He said tempered glass, rather than laminated glass, is used on the court as the former is stronger and shatters into smaller, dull pieces. He said most international padel courts use tempered glass.

Padel games typically take place in enclosed courts, which are a third of the size of a standard tennis court. The sport makes use of the glass walls to play a variety of shots, in a similar way to squash.