They felt a bit of extra pressure as they kicked off this fourth stage of the 2010 Masters of Pétanque, which took place last Friday evening in the honor square set up in the Jacques Médecin forum in Nice. The triplet, recently crowned French champions and licensed at the DUC of Nice, was eager to succeed in this Azurian match and, simultaneously, get closer to the top of the rankings. Mission accomplished for the extraterrestrials of pétanque…
The quarter-final was a tightly fought battle with a win by the narrowest of margins against Stéphane Robineau, Fred Perrin, and Kévin Malbec, who were defeated with the smallest gap by a score of 13-12. The stroke nearly slipped away, but the three teammates were already in their semi-final, and there the stakes got higher because it was the French team, made up of Thierry Grandet, Pascal Miléi, and Damien Hureau, who faced the Nice players, who could nonetheless count on the unconditional support of a fully supportive crowd. Down 7-0 after a few rounds, things seemed bleak for the locals, but thanks to the steady arm of Suchaud as master shooter, once they regained control of the jack from their opponents, the Nice team soared once again to victory with a score of 13-9. The road to the final opened up amid applause and congratulations.
After a dinner break and the arrival of cooler night temperatures, the two teams appeared in the honor square greeted by the Minister of Industry and Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, accompanied by his Director of Sports, Laurent Ciubini. Thus, Dylan Rocher, Christian Fazzino, and Christophe Sarrio were the evening’s opponents for a final eagerly awaited by a generously packed crowd. A beautiful back-and-forth between two great teams and breathless rounds punctuated by strokes of genius, such as the three-ball shot by Philippe Suchaud, which delivered the final blow to opponents who had nonetheless fought well in the Nice arena. A 13-9 victory placed the Azurians in the top three of these Masters, which they dream of adding to their 2010 trophy case right next to their French champions title.
Results of the 2010 Masters in Nice
Quarter-finals
Quintais defeated Stéphane Robineau-Fred Perrin-Kévin Malbec 13/12
France defeated Zvonko Radnic-Jean-Michel Puccinelli-Bruno Le Boursicaud 13/10
Rocher defeated Patrick Hervo-Maxime Goulet-Christophe Calissi (Nice) 13/6
Savin defeated Africa Team (Khaled Lakhal-Adama Kouandé-François N’Diaye) 13/9
Precision Shooting (among the quarter-final losers)
Malbec 25, Perrin 23, Robineau 19, total 67
Calissi 20, Goulet 17, Hervo 24, total 61
N’Diaye 18, Lakhal 19, Kouandé 15, total 52
Semi-finals
Quintais defeated France (Thierry Grandet-Pascal Miléi-Damien Hureau) 13/9
Rocher defeated Angy Savin-Christophe Sévilla-Joseph Molinas 13/7
Final
Philippe Quintais-Philippe Suchaud-Henri Lacroix defeated Dylan Rocher-Christian Fazzino- Christophe Sarrio 13/9
The score: 0/3 1/3 1/6 4/6 6/6 6/8 7/8 7/9 9/9 9/12 9/13
Nice stage points: Quintais 10; Rocher 7; France and Savin 5; Robineau 3; Nice 2; Africa Team 1; Radnic 0.
Masters of Pétanque Rankings (after 4 stages):
1. France 27; 2. Savin 27; 3. Quintais 25; 4. Africa Team 13; 5. Radnic and Rocher 12; 7. Robineau 11.
