LUNEL - Mikaël Devogelaere has won the first national season tournament in Lunel, France, with a minimal victory in the final over Jérôme Barbeillon: 40-39 in 32 innings. Devogelaere had beaten his teammate Jérémy Bury in the semi-finals: 40-23 in 30 innings. Jérôme Barbeillon, the other finalist, defeated Cédric Melnytschenko in the semi-final by 40-37 in 43.
The tournament winner also came out on top in the qualifications with two victories, one over Eric Brousses 35-14 in 23 and against Samir Derradji 35-9 in 17, averaging 1,750. In the quarter-finals, Devogelaere defeated Jérôme Riotto 40-25 in 37.
With a total of 1,367, Devogelaere achieved the best overall average of the tournament. It was his second victory in a national tournament after Macon 2020, where he also recorded a strong average with 1,532.
The podium is completed by Jérôme Barbeillon (Andernos) with 1,080 and then by the defeated semi-finalists Cédric Melnytschenko (Albert) with 1,148 and Jérémy Bury (1,142). The losers of the quarter-finals were Grégory Le Deventec (1,101), Vincent Lelièvre (0,805), Vahit Kunt (0,943), Jérôme Riotto (0,816). Lesser performances came from Xavier Le Roy, 16th with 0,719 and Jean-Christophe Roux, 19th with 0,765.
The overall average of the tournament was not very high: the 39 players reached 0.800. The highest run came from Jérôme Barbeillon with 12, the best match was for Cédric Melnytschenko against Steve Dorard, 35-6 in 16, 2,188 on average.
Jérôme Barbeillon, beaten in the final match by one single point against Devogelaere
Cédric Melnytschenko, best match of the tournament
Jérémy Bury was outplayed by Devogelaere in the semi finals