the essential
Regional championship. Summary of the Audois weekend during the regional championship in Lacaune.
The march was a little high for the PEC spearheads of Sou and Trèbes, beaten by their rivals of Angles and Uchaud. The winners of Basto and Ferrié even seized the crown a few hours later.
Ah, if only Lady Fortune had deigned to grant her favors to the two Aude survivors still in the running, last Sunday, very early in the morning, on the outskirts of the Montagne Noire. And this, at the time of the draw for the quarter-finals.
One of two things indeed. Either the most modest outsiders, coming from Cahors, or from Masseube, appeared, in that order or not, on the program of the Trébéens and residents of the Sou, or a formidable Aude derby at the top of the roller coaster ensured the delegation, led by the excellent Frédéric Zafra, to have a representative in the semi-final. Which stage of the competition corresponds, as everyone knows, to the qualifying part (in thirteen points) for the French championship!
Douai, a first meeting not to be missed
It did not happen. Not only did Christian Ferrères and David Barthe inherit the jackpot (the Bonzi brothers held their place as the biggest favorites), but, in the other part of the table as it were, Kevin Basto and Yannick Ferrié, opposed to the English (Thierry Bernard, Arnaud Marée), could not loosen the Gard vise. “To lose like that, on the spur of the moment, like I’ve never seen before, it’s terrible”analyzed Gérard Crouzat, the Haute-Garonne “Pope” of long distances, the most impartial witness of this quarter-final which, notwithstanding the score (11-7), will leave tons of regrets for the defeated a moment in the lead (5-3).
On the Trebéen side, however, nothing to say, with an 11-3 that was, to say the least, expeditious on the board. Hervé and Olivier Bonzi played at their usual level, the same level which allowed them to put on the tricolor jersey put into play as part of the national club championship, in the fall of 2021.
Between six and ten meters, the members of the Uchaud club have difficulty doing well in the game, while the Provençalists obtain results which are in line with the predictions of their followers. From there to saying that the departmental session, between Cévennes and Camargue, is the most challenging, by far, of the thirteen departments of Occitanie, there is only one step that the most enthusiastic will happily take.
In any case, the regional deadlines are over. Time for the French championships, with the men’s and women’s triplets, in the beam.
