Provençal game: Hervé and Olivier Bonzi, great in defeat

Olivier et Hervé Bonzi ont accompli de grands championnats de France.

Stoppés qu’au stade des quarts de finale des championnats de France doublette à La Crau (Var), les frères Bonzi peuvent être fiers d’eux.

There are bitter, unfortunate defeats, but that of Hervé and Olivier Bonzi in the quarter-finals of the French doubles is one of those that makes you grow. To be part of the last eight pairs, the brothers of the Boule de la Fanny d'Uchaud had to, after a group game lost 11/8 against Garrion (PACA), win in the play-off Le Cann (Manche) 11/5, crush Schmitt (Tar et Garonne) 11/1 in the 32nd, take revenge 11/4 on Garrion (PACA) then, in the 8th, atomize 11/0 Lebon-Raboulin (Lot).

And the Gardois gave in 11-9…

At the end of this impressive journey, the two Gardois had to and were able to measure themselves against their childhood idol, a certain…. Philippe Stievenart, in league with Julien Serrano, under the colors of Hérault.

The fight lasted more than three hours and 15 ends. Still in the game, never given up, at 9 all, the Gardois gave up 11/9 on a final pass where, after a strike from Olivier, Philippe's recovery was once again decisive.
''You deserved it as much as we did'', acknowledged the six-time French doubles champion, highlighting the performance of his opponents.

Bosch and Durand heroic

Cédric Bosch and Nicolas Durand, for their part, were also heroic. The Gardois reached the last 16, beaten 9/11 after four hours of fighting by Porcheron-Dupin (Gironde). ''I started badly, we recovered well, we went ahead 9/8 in the last end, we won it on the ground but they put 3 points less than 30 cm well done to them'', analyzed Cédric Bosch.
Having gone through a play-off against Bernal (Vaucluse), Gérard Sigal and Cédric Horjak (Boule des Anges de Milhaud) fell in the 32nd round against Stievenart and Serrano, who were clearly beaten 11/3. The Gard champions Dorian Roussel and Christian Vargas, for their part, will be able to regret their two failures in the group. Each time, they were in the match but lost 9/11 against Fréches (Landes) and 8/11 against Gonthier (Savoie).

Youth selections

After a first round of selection in Molières-Cavaillac with young players from Gard, Hérault and Lozère, the junior Théo Bernard and the cadets, Sami Rahali Comez and Adel Meziri Volkmann were selected to defend their chances at the regional selection, these September 13 and 14 in Montauban. We will regret… or worry that Gard, for the first time, has only three young players retained, even if Dylan Rayne (Langlade) and Claris Billerey are among the substitutes.

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