Pétanque: Open mixed doublette |20 December 2017

Tsibourana Andriamambamahefa, Flenri Razafitsalama winners

The Malagasy duo of Tsibourana Andriamambamahefa and Flenri Razafitsalama are the winners of the end-of-year charity open mixed doublette tournament organised by the Seychelles Petanque Association on Sunday at the La Promenade boulodrome.

In the final, which ended late at night, they beat the pair of Ivan Anacoura and Antonio Gopal 13-9 to win the charity cup.

The competition saw 14 teams drawn from the bag and half of the competitors were Malagasies.

The charity open tournament played on a league pool basis was in aid of former player and Seychelles Petanque Association (SPA) chairman Bernard Chang-Time who is bound to a wheelchair for the past years.

Mr Chang-Time was present for the last three rounds of the final and he was presented with R3,250 raised by the players. It was SPA acting chairman Bernard Denis who presented the donation to Mr Chang-Time in the presence of the chief executive of the National Sports Council, Giovanna Rousseau, members of the association, other players and fans.

The best male and female petanque players for 2017 ‒ Roland Renaud and Linda Berthe ‒ were also rewarded.

The exciting final between Andriamambamahefa/Razafitsalama and Annacoura/Gopal played under the floodlights was an intense affair since the two teams had met earlier in pool stage and the win had gone to the Malagasy duo.

Before the end of the last two rounds of the final, Andriamambamahefa and Razafitsalama had taken a four-point advantage (11-7) but Anacoura and Gopal fought back to score two important points to reduce the score to 11-9. It was as far as they could go in their quest for revenge as Andriamambamahefa and Razafitsalama kept their cool to score two precious points to win it 13-9.

Drawn up in group B, Andriamambamahefa and Razafitsalama took first position on set score difference with five wins and one loss ‒ the same total as Anacoura and Gopal who took second position.

In group A, the duo of Roland Renaud and Antoine Botsoie, were undefeated in six matches to take first position, followed by Nicolas Chang-Time and Rindra Ratocojanahary in second position with five wins and one loss. In the cross knockout semifinals, Anacoura and Gopal beat Renaud and Botsoie 13-11 while Andriamambamahefa and Razafitsalama beat Chang-Time and Ratocojanahary 13-0. Renaud and Botsoie went on to beat Chang-Time and Ratocojanahary 13-9 in the third place play-off.

Andriamambahefa said: “We played a lot today and as you could have seen the match was difficult and very tight. We played well and we are very happy to win against them for the second time.”

As for Anacoura, he had this to say: “The final match was very exciting and we feel very tired after a very long day. After coming out second in our difficult pool with all teams finishing close on wins, we entered the final wanting to seek revenge for our loss in the group stage to them but they still had the edge over us. But we are very satisfied with our performance and we congratulate them for winning today.”

At the end of the tournament, the winners received their prizes from Miss Rousseau in a small reception held at the Exiles Club. She commended the generous gesture made towards Mr Chang-Time.

She added that since Chang-Time started with the launch and recognition of the sport, she urged the association to continue to expand the practice of the sport further.

“I would like to see petanque being practiced in all the districts. It is for all ages and it isn’t difficult to find a small area in the districts where the sport can be practiced,” she said.

Ms Rousseau also informed the players that by the end of the year or early January 2018, a new sitting facility and an enclosed room will be made available for the convenient of the association.

The 2017 male and female double league winners are Roland Renaud/Ivan Anacoura and Sheila Chang-Time/Linda Berthe, who are all from the Mont Buxton pétanque club.

P. J.