Brothers Alexis and Félix Lebrun made their debut in Pro A this Thursday, October 10 with their club Alliance Nîmes Montpellier, two months after the Olympic dream in Paris.
The Lebrun brothers have gotten used to the rockstar effect. Two months after the Olympic excitement, in which they quickly became the darlings of the public, the madness around tanned people pinging has not subsided. It was enough to linger for a few minutes on their return to school, racket in hand, last week, after a big month of break. It was in China, the country of ping, at the Grand Smash in Beijing. What a show! “Lebrunmania” is almost as strong as the local stars in Asia.
Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON
The ANMTT (Alliance Nîmes-Montpellier) therefore had a bit of pressure this Thursday, welcoming the return of the heroes to French soil in competition. Especially since in two weeks, Montpellier is hosting a WTT Champions, the equivalent of a Masters 1000 in tennis. So we had to rise to the occasion. Never has a Pro A match, the top French table tennis division, been so attractive.
Félix puts on a show but breaks down
So, the Alliance decided to pull out all the stops. The walls of Alain-Achille, the Alliance’s usual venue with its 250 seats, not being malleable enough to accommodate a thousand more people, the Palais des sports de Chaban-Delmas in Castelnau-le-Lez became the Lebrun’s reception theater. Moreover, several clubs in the championship have planned a relocation when receiving the ANMTT.
Despite the start of the European Championships in Linz (Austria) from October 15, the pair obviously did not want to miss this return home. But it was hard! Alexis’ big thighs and wrist helped prevent the Nîmo-Montpellier club from falling from the start against Jura Morez TT (3-2 victory).
The eldest of the siblings, 19th in the world, led the way perfectly. The pivotal match, when his club was trailing 2-1 after Félix’s defeat against the tough Nigerian Aruna Quadri (21st), it was he who won against the brother’s striker.
Felix, for his part, had activated the showman button, winning impressive points. A little magic from the Games remained in his racket. Well, all that was missing was a victory to make the evening perfect. Jostled, back to the wall, “Féfé” ended up materializing in the decisive match. The most important. It deserved a clapping at the end. A preview for two weeks.
“Thank you to the Lebrun brothers for everything they bring to our discipline”assured the president of the opposing club Philippe Girod, at the end of this long evening. A winning return. Definitely.
