SAINT ETIENNE - Véronique Ales from Reims won the first national women's tournament in the free game last weekend. In the final, she beat Lucie Petit from Soissons 71-54 in 30 innings. It is the 21st tournament victory for Véronique. She achieved the lowest overall average in all those 21 tournaments: 2,39.
The averages of the 20 previous victories ranged from 3,27 (Saint-Quentin, 2012) to 8,28 (Ronchin, 2010), a sign that the post-Covid period and the return to competition is certainly having an impact on the ladies' game.
Véronique Ales played her best match in the semi-final against Aurore Bellens (Ronchin), which she won 94-80 in 30 innings, the best average of the tournament. The best overall average of the tournament was Aurore Bellens with 2.79.
Lucie Petit, the losing finalist, also played a 120 game in 30 innings against Florence Maillet from Colbert St Pierre. The best match of the weekend was for this Florence Maillet, who won in her second match against Sylvie Gracia (Montargis) in the preliminary round 120-84 in 24 innings.
The best run of 34 was made by the local player Sonia Livebardon in her 1st game of the event against Patricia Defarges.
The next tournament in this ladies' free game circuit is on 8 and 9 January 2022.