The last doubts were lifted on Friday June 21, late in the morning. At the end of the selection committee of the French Table Tennis Federation, the six athletes who will represent the country at the Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11) have been chosen. If there is little surprise to see Prithika Pavade and Jianan Yuan inherit the two quotas in the women’s singles table, it remained to be seen who would accompany Félix Lebrun among the men.
Put in competition by the experienced Simon Gauzy, Alexis Lebrun still managed to stand out and conquer the upper echelons of the FFTT. To the point of being chosen to compete in the men’s singles event, in addition to the team event and the mixed doubles with Jianan Yuan. “Over the last six months, Alexis has had more significant performances against the twenty best players in the world, translated Emmanuel Rachez, manager of the Paris 2024 unit. He beat three, when Simon beat one in this period. »
“A very good fight between the two”
Despite the loss of numerous points at the beginning of April, Alexis Lebrun found the levers to restart forward motion and regain the lead over his compatriot in the world rankings (17th for Alexis, 29th for Simon as of June 18) . “It was a very good fight between the two, greets Emmanuel Rachez, member of the selection committee alongside the president, the DTN and the director of high performance. This was played out fully at the table, in a natural manner and with excellent cohesion. Simon has returned to a very efficient level, which bodes well for the team event. It pushed Alexis to be better and show that he is a player who can aspire to great things at the Olympics. »
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As for the choice of the third player for the team event, the name of Charlotte Lutz quite logically came out of the hat. “What was decisive was his performance at the Worlds against Germany in a decisive match which brought us the medal”, continues Emmanuel Rachez. Jules Rolland and Audrey Zarif were chosen as replacements.
