French Triplette Petanque Championship
Three overseas teams were in the running at the triples pétanque championship, which brought together 128 teams in Saint-Yrieix-sur-Charente on 22 and 23 August: Réunion, Guadeloupe and the Northern Islands.
Led by their captain, Christophe Agar, the team from Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin – Mickael Cerignat, Éric Stievenard and their coach René Lambert – were supported not only by their families but also by Stephen Laurens (who has lived in Saint-Martin for 36 years), who had travelled all the way from the Bordeaux region to cheer on his former teammates from the Cariboule club. The trio of Christophe, Mickael and Éric won their first two matches, 13–8 against Puy-de-Dôme (63), then 13–10 against Lozère (48). Having qualified to progress from the group stage on Saturday, the team were nevertheless knocked out in the round of 32 by a particularly well-drilled side from Bouches-du-Rhône… It’s true that in Marseille, pétanque is the national sport. Whether they like it or not, it was a team from the Côtes-d’Amor that won this championship! But for our local players, it was a wonderful experience competing at national level.
