The European table tennis championships, the seventh day of Ligue 1, the tennis tournaments in Wuhan and Shanghai and the first day of the Champions Cup enlivened the weekend of October 17 to 18. As usual, franceinfo: sport looks back at everything you shouldn't miss.
Table tennis: the singles title for Félix Lebrun, six medals for France in Europe
This is what we call a climax. The coronation of Félix Lebrun, his first in singles on this scale, concluded a particularly prolific edition of the European Championships for the French clan. The young Montpellier fought for a long time against the Swede Anton Källberg on Sunday, before crushing him in the seventh and final round. The world No. 2 thus succeeds his brother, and climbed to the top of a podium where another Frenchman, Léo de Nodrest, bronze medalist, appears.
In the women's draw, Prithika Pavade also won a nice bronze medal. On Saturday, Félix and Alexis Lebrun added another gold medal to their doubles haul (the Bourasseaud-Dorr pair finished in bronze in the same tournament). The eldest Lebrun had already taken silver in mixed doubles alongside Charlotte Lutz.
Champions Cup: Toulouse gets by, UBB stalls at the start
A hell of a miracle. Reduced to 14 from the 16th minute and particularly undisciplined, the Toulouse team, favorites for the final coronation, showed resilience while counting on their best talents, to overcome Exeter (43-40) at home. An almost improbable victory as Stade Toulouse struggled to win, even playing 13 against 15 for ten minutes. At the end of the match, experienced XV de la Rose fullback Henry Slade missed a kick against the poles which would have allowed Exeter to snatch a draw. The inspirations of the Dupont-Ntamack duo, and the double from the young full-back Matias Remue (23) - replacing the injured Thomas Ramos - were vital in Toulouse to escape the English trap.
For the UBB, the quest for a hat-trick is off to a bad start. Double title holders, Union Bordeaux-Bègles opened the Champions Cup on Friday on the Gloucester pitch. But the Bordelo-Béglais conceded a breathtaking draw (36-36), ending their series of 16 consecutive victories in the competition. Authors of an exploit on the lawn of the European vice-champions, Bath (32-14), the Montpellier residents made a resounding entry into the running. Just like Pau, easy winner of the English Leicester (41-17).
In a heavy context, Stade Rochelais won against the Johannesburg Lions (31-14), mourned by the sudden death of second row Hyron Andrews the day before at the hotel. Also opposed to a South African club, Stade Français was corrected on the lawn of the Pretoria Bulls (56-20), while Clermont lost in Ireland, against Leinster (48-23), just like Racing 92, tamed by Munster (33-25).
Ligue 1: OL and PSG big winners of the weekend
A new team has moved into the championship leadership chair. Winner against Nice (2-1), in the last poster of the 7th day, Olympique Lyonnais signed the great operation at the end of a weekend marked by poor performances at the top of the ranking, including the defeat of the ex-Monegasque leader in Lorient (0-1), that of Rennes in a crazy match against Paris FC (3-4) or even Lille's draw against Brest (1-1) on Saturday.
The other club that took advantage of the situation is Paris Saint-Germain. Buoyed by its Golden Ball, PSG got out of a bad situation on Saturday on the Strasbourg pitch (3-1). Trailing for an hour of play, the Parisians were able to count on Ousmane Dembélé, who came on in the 63rd minute. Decisive passer on the equalizer, then scorer and the origin of the third goal, the Parisian number ten allowed his team to return from Alsace with the three points of victory, three days after their victory in the Champions League against Manchester City (4-2).
In other results of the weekend, OM had a second success by piling up the goals in Angers (5-2). Lens bounced back from its defeat in the Champions League this week, dominating Troyes (3-1). Finally, Auxerre won on the Le Havre pitch (3-1).
Track cycling: mixed results for the Blues at the Worlds
One year before the World Championships organized at home, the French track cycling team left those of Shanghai, Sunday October 18, with a mixed result of three silver medals: those of Benjamin Thomas in the points race, of Etienne Oliviero in the kilometer on Friday, and of the Clara Copponi-Marion Borras duo in the American race on Saturday.
Sunday, the Benjamin Thomas-Bryan Coquard pair failed in 9th position in the Madison (or American race), far from the Danes Carl-Frederik Bevort and Lasse Leth who flew over the competition to win ahead of Portugal. Enough to give food for thought in view of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles where the French thirty-somethings will aim for a medal. Another disappointment on Sunday, that of Mathilde Gros, eliminated in the first round of the keirin tournament.
Tennis: firsts for Davidovich Fokina and Chwalinska in Asia
At 27, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina won the best title of his career on Sunday, with the Masters 1000 in Shanghai. The Spaniard, 26th player in the world, got the better of his young compatriot Rafael Jodar (13th in the world) in three sets (1-6, 7-6 [7-5], 6-4). Winner earlier in the year of his first two ATP titles in Mallorca (grass) and Chengdu (hard), the native of Malaga had never before won a Masters 1000.
“I don’t know what to say, nor what I feel precisely… A sort of immense relief,” he reacted, after losing the first five finals of his career on the circuit. In turn, Alejandro Davidovich's victory also brought joy to the American Ben Shelton, mathematically qualified for the end-of-season Masters in Turin (November 15-22).
On the women's circuit, the Polish Maja Chwalinska (seeded n°16), finalist at Roland-Garros in June, won the WTA 1000 in Wuhan after a fight of almost three hours with the surprise Sonay Kartal, 170th in the world, offering herself her first title on the main circuit at the age of 25.
