SAINT ETIENNE - At the Académie de Billard in Saint Etienne, the first French tournament this season for ladies in the freestyle will be played next weekend, 30 and 31 October. The French champion Magali Declunder is missing in the 20-strong field. The multiple national and European champion focuses more on three cushion and plays not so much in classical disciplines these years.
Three players, who were on the podium at the last French championship, are candidates for the first tournament win, including Aurore Bellens, Lucie Petit (photo) and Véronique Ales.
Véronique Ales' preview: ''Bonjour, I think that nobody is favorite, because we didn't play since march 2020. So it will depend on motivation, and capacity to train on billiard at home, for instance. The cards are mixed. The youngest should be motivated, the eldest are experienced, everybody is enthousiast to meet again!''
The 20 participants are divided into seven groups: six groups of three, one group of two players.
Group 1: Véronique Ales (Reims), Patricia Defarges (Epiedsen-Beauce) and Sonia Livebardon (Saint-Etienne)
Group 2: Aurore Bellens (Ronchin), Pascale Tremblay (Saint-Pierre-des-Corps) and Nicole Jeanny (Troyes)le
Group 3: Lucie Petit (Soissons), Jeanne Thomas (Cormelles Le Royal) and Clara Bouysset (Blagnac)
Group 4: Brigitte Carquet (Narbonne), Myriam D'Orléans (Chartre) and Dominique Haas (Montbrison)
Group 5: Anne Barbier (Arcis), Linda Etten (Saint-Pierre-des-Corps) and Christine Veres (Saint-Max/Nancy)
Group 6: Florence Edelin (Montargis), Julie Aubert (Pont-à-Mousson) and Myriam Aubert (Pont-à-Mousson)
Group 7: Sylvie Gracia (Montargis) and Florence Maillet (Saint-Pierre-des-Corps)
The qualifying rounds are played on Saturday at 4 tables from 9.00 to 19.00. The matches will continue on Sunday in the quarter-finals from 8.30. The distance is 120 points or 30 innings. The final is on Sunday at 14.00.