3-Cushion
LA BAULE - Maxime Panaia is the new junior French champion. The 16-year player from Colmar, who made his debut as a junior, is the successor to Adrien Tachoire, who played his last championship in the youth category's last year. Maxime Panaia was the better of Gwendal Marechal in the final match, 30-23 in 19 innings.
The young French talent is not unknown in the world of billiards. Two times he already became European champion at the cadets under 16 years and twice he was French champion in that category. Maxime Panaia is known for his strong character and mental strength in finals. He showed it again in the match against Gwendal Marechal, the favourite for the title.
The French junior championship was played at the same time as the World Cup in La Baule. The Lorient player Marechal, who recently was third at the junior World championship in Spain, finished the pre rounds with 1.746. In the semi-final, he beat Remy Chenay 30-5 in 18 (1.666), in the quarter-finals he bested Hugo Opryszek 30-5 in 10 innings (3.000 average).
Maxime Panaia had a much weaker start up, including a win over Cédric Vasseur in the semi-finals (30-28 in 45) and Nathan Duriez in the quarterfinals 30-32 in 31. Panaia's average before the final match was 0.733 against 1.746 for Marechal.
In the final, the real Maxime Panaia stood at the table. The young had an excellent start, soon took advantage with a run of six and then was leading the entire match: 14-7, 18-8, 19-15, 23-15 and finally 30-23.
After the ceremony, Panaia did his story in front of the camera's. He started playing billiards when he was eleven. Prior to that, he played football, but due to an injury, he had to stop and then he focused on a billiards career. ,,My father took me to the billiard club and since then I love this wonderful sport.'' Maxime is one of the few talents in his area.
,,I'm very happy with this title'', he said after the final match. ,,I already felt in a good form for a few weeks. My first matches here were not that good, but I told myself that I had a chance to win the final. And I could do it, I felt strong with so many people in the stands. And I finished well, taking the title, a great feeling.''
The championship was played with 12 juniors.
The final ranking and the averages at the French championship for juniors:
1 Maxime Panaia 0.828
2 Gwendal Marechal 1.621
3 Cédric Vasseur 0.537
4 Rémy Chenay 0.653
5 Nathan Duriez 0.631
6 Abdelghani Refassi 0.639
7 Hugo Opryszek 0.421
8 Johan Godel 0.525.
Maxime Panaia is kissed by his girlfriend after his victory