Pétanque: Henri Lacroix’s team wins the Montpellier World Cup, Cindy Peyrot’s team wins the Women’s International

Lacroix, Matraglia et Doerr s'imposent à Montpellier. Midi Libre – LF

l'essentiel Après deux jours de compétition dans des conditions extrêmes et changeantes, les meilleurs l’ont emporté sur le carré d’honneur du centre commercial Odysseum de Montpellier.

In addition to undeniable talent, it took perseverance and courage for the players to reach the final of the Mondiale de pétanque de Montpellier 3M and for the players to join that of the International "Véronique Foppolo".

They first had to survive the intense heat of Saturday to qualify for the round of 16. They then had to deal with the storm, the rain on Sunday morning before a sudden return of the stifling sun as they began the final square. The conditions and adversity got the better of the favorite trio Dylan Rocher, Diego Rizzi and Stéphane Robineau who fell in the quarter-final.

Henri Lacroix defeats Michel Hatchadourian

Apart from this big surprise, it was not surprising to see the team of Henri Lacroix lined up for the title accompanied by David Doerr and Laurent Matraglia against to the triplet composed of Michel Hatchadourian, David Riviera and Pierre Lucchesi. The duel at the top was expeditious. In 35 minutes, Henri Lacroix and his partners had the training licensed in Saint-Tropez.

After having 8-4, the winners were caught at first (8-9) before making a final acceleration to win with a score of 13 to 9. Henri Lacroix s’ offered his third trophy to Montpellier: "It’s always a pleasure to win, you never get used to it,” rejoiced the 49-year-old, 13-time world champion. We faced some great teams throughout the competition and also in the final."

At the same time, the final of the Women's International was much more competitive. The Saint-Tropez players Cindy Peyrot, Anna Maillard and Sandrine Poinsot initially led well (10-3) before Elodie Esteve, Emma Picard and Aurélia Ruiz Blazquez came back to the level (10-10).

Emma Picard had the winning shot in her hands but missed. It was enough for Peyrot and her teammates to win the tournament (13-10): "We played very well for two days, explained the sponsor of the event . This is my first victory in Montpellier and I really wanted to win it at least once in my career. I am very happy."

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