A bronze medal … and that’s it. The French Pétanque team leaves Chengdu (China) and the world games with a meager review.
PAs at the Olympic Games, pétanque could “console” itself during the world games. A competition organized in Chengdu (China) over ten days, bringing together disciplines that are not registered in the Olympic program. Among them: pétanque, with precision shooting competitions for men and women, but also a mixed doublet competition.
Ambitious for this meeting, France presented itself with Sandrine Poinsot and Lucas Desport. Two members of the collective France which shine in this 2025 season. The first named will be part of the adventure during the next female world championships, while the second has distinguished itself with its team since the start of the summer as part of the pétanque masters.
Sandrine Poinsot at the foot of the podium
Only here: nothing really turned in the direction of the Blues in Chengdu. Only 7th in the 1st round of the precision shooting competition, Lucas Desport then failed to make a place in the last square. Admittedly, the Frenchman faced a solid competition, embodied by Marcel Gbetable (Benin), Andrea Chiapello (Italy) and Ratchata Khamdee (Thailand), in this order on the final podium.
On the feminine side, Sandrine Poinsot got out of it better in the first round. Second of these qualifications, just ahead of Mouna Beji, the future gold medalist, the Frenchwoman manages to slip into the last square. But it is Mouna Beji who waits for the Habs. More experienced, the Tunisian is largely essential (30-18). The bronze remains accessible for the French… who bowed again against the Thai Nantawan Fueangsanit (28-23). Sandrine Poinsot therefore fails at the foot of the podium.
The controversy … before bronze
The Thai player, the Blues found her in a mixed doublet for an unfortunate episode. Lucas Desport and Sandrine Poinsot then played a semi-final against the Thai pair. Dominated, the French team is in trouble. At the heart of the game, Lucas Desport shakes up the Thai player, a little too much in the center of the field to her taste, which had just rebuked a hole. A gesture much more clumsy than nasty.
A semi-final lost heavily (13-2), which then left the Blues the opportunity to refocus to get the bronze medal. Lucas Desport and Sandrine Poinsot dominate the Italian doublet (13-4) to afford bronze and the only medal for France in these world games. A competition won by Tunisia, a witness to the formerly dominated nations, but now increasingly able to come and compete with France on the international scene.
