Like the men’s championship, the noose is tightening around leader Poitiers, facing competition which has never been so strong. Only three points separate the runner-up from ninth, the second part of the season promises to be exciting. A look back at an eventful start to December.
The cards were redistributed at the start of winter and a few days before the end of the first leg, only three teams seem to have dropped out of the standings. Nine are therefore still in the race to try to win the title, including Quimper, surprising winner of the two best teams of the season so far: Poitiers and Joué-lès-Tours.
Facing the leader of the provisional ranking, the Bretons took advantage of the abandonment of Jianan Yuan, injured in the right shoulder and the solid performances of Marie Migot and Isa Cok to achieve a prestigious success. A few days later and riding on this great dynamic, Li Xue and her gang easily won against runner-up Joué-lès-Tours, deprived of Hana Goda and Léana Hochart that evening.
For their part, the Jocondiennes first experienced two chaotic outings with this defeat in Quimper but especially the shock in Saint-Denis and this time, despite the return of Hana Goda. At the end of a match marked by the two successes in the decisive round of the experienced Dutch Li Jie, 40 years old, against Hana Goda then Audrey Zarif during the last game, Saint-Denis won its fifth victory in six matches . The two teams then respectively beat Metz (3-1) and Poitiers (3-0), settling in the first two places in the provisional ranking, to the great dismay of Poitevines, once again deprived of Jianan Yuan, demoted to third place .
We will also note the surprise defeat of the reigning French champions at home against Étival (0-3), adding even more indecision for the rest of the championship with Saint-Quentinoises in ninth place in the provisional ranking. Indecision hangs over the championship this year… to our greatest pleasure.
