The Pierre-Garsau and Alice-Milliat Trophies brought life to the Montpellier Olympic swimming pool for three days. Although they came close to reaching the final, the locals ultimately failed to reach the podium.
Water polo is a sport played seven against seven, and in the end, Marseille wins. Already four-time title holders, the Bouches-du-Rhône players once again won the Pierre-Garsau Trophy (Coupe de France) which took place over three days in the Montpellier Olympic swimming pool.
In the final on Sunday, under the watchful eye of Blues coach Florian Bruzzo, the Cercle des nageurs de Marseille beat Strasbourg (13-10). He could savor this success especially since he did not come far from a surprise elimination on Saturday in the semi-final against Montpellier. The locals lost by one goal against the ogre of French water polo (14-13).
Montpellier frustrated
After starting by eliminating Sète in the quarter-final (14-12), the Montpellier residents came up against Aix-en-Provence in the match for third place (11-7). However, they led by five goals to four at half-time after two well-controlled first periods. But their opponents were more effective during the rest and the end of the match, particularly on the defensive level. The MWP finished in a frustrating fourth place.
-For its part, Sète finished the tournament on a good note after being outclassed by the red lantern of the championship Taverny in the first classification match (21-12). Anthony Rossi and his partners then washed away the affront by dominating Nice thanks to a hat-trick from Sauton (13-12). They thus avoid finishing in last place in the competition.
At the same time, the Alice-Milliat Trophy was being played, the equivalent of the Women's French Cup. And unsurprisingly, Lille won the competition. The Northerners first outclassed Nice in the semi-final on Saturday (18-6) before tormenting Nancy in the final this Sunday with a clear score of 25 to 5. Winner of Bordeaux in the small final (10-4), Nice completes the podium.
France
