Asked at a pre-event press conference how far the sport is from the Olympics, Vajda, who took over the position from Marius Vizer Jr, replied: "Not far. 

"We are working hard and the feedback we are getting from the International Olympic Committee and fellow International Federations and other constituencies of the Olympic Movement is very positive and very encouraging.

"I wouldn’t dare say a date but I have this feeling and I am happy to share with you that we are close."

Jawad El Hajri, President of the newly-formed European Teqball Confederation, has signalled a major shift in the focus of the sport from elite to grassroots activity.

The European body has been established following the introduction by the FITEQ General Assembly earlier this year of the possibility of starting up Continental Federations.

A Panam Teqball Confederation has also been proposed to cover all of Pan America, including two of the sport's best nations - Brazil and United States.

"When we created FITEQ in 2017 we decided to disrupt the regular development of sport," El Hajri, a longstanding FITEQ Executive Board member and President of the French federation, said.

"We decided to start from the elite to show our ambition and credibility in terms of creating a sport and competition with ambitions to become an Olympic sport."

That involved longstanding collaborations with top football stars such as FITEQ ambassador Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi, who have been frequently pictured and filmed taking part in the sport.

"Being here today at the European Games is a concrete proof that we are on the right way," El Hajri said.

"But by having Continental Federations instituted it shows that we are changing the game which means that now the development of the sport is going to be organic."

Teqball made its debut in a major continental event yesterday when Cameroon, Nigeria, and Tunisia all picked up gold medals in the competitions which concluded today at the African Beach Games in Hammamet.