In less than five months, the best bad players on the planet will meet at the Adidas Arena from July 27 to August 5 in the hope of winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
The French Open (IFB), which ended this Sunday in the new venue located at Porte de la Chapelle, delivered its share of lessons.
In terms of organization, the “Test Events” on March 8 and 9, to test the configuration of the room and surrounding areas during the Olympic Games, were conclusive.
The public rather responded.
The president of the French federation Yohan Penel announced that the IFB had attracted more than 22,000 spectators over the 6 days of competition (including two sessions on Friday and Saturday).
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As for the room, it appealed to the players, the public but also the members of the IOC coordination commission, who came as visitors at the start of the week, notably with lighting considered very satisfactory, an essential point for this sport.
“This first edition is a success,” declares Pascal Bildstein, the organizer of the French Open.
There was a real impact on the public because we had a record edition even if we didn't sell out.
We also beat the number of media to cover the event with 170 accreditations.
Thanks to this tournament, we were able to carry out numerous tests on the floor, the lighting, the scorer's table, on the training gymnasiums... The OCOG will be able to correct certain things such as the size of the scorer's table.
This is both very important and also a detail.
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The Popov brothers empty-handed
For the French players, the meeting promised to be important with a view to Olympic qualification.
Some scored valuable points while others did not seize the opportunity to take a decisive step to win their ticket.
Brothers Toma Junior and Christo Popov left empty-handed in both singles and doubles.
The two brothers have been engaged in a fratricidal struggle for months to win the only individual ticket to represent France at the Games.
In Paris, Toma Junior and Christo lost in the first round to respectively the Singaporean Loh and the Chinese Shi, winner of the tournament.
A week after the first title of his career on the WorldTour in Germany, Christo (22 years old) therefore maintains an advantage over his elder (25 years old) before the last 4 tournaments.
In doubles, the Popov brothers were unable to get rid of the Chinese pair Jiting - Xianguy in the first round and performed poorly in the Olympic wrestling because their direct competitor, the French pair Lucas Corvée - Ronan Labar, was , advanced to the round of 16 after beating the triple Indonesian world champions Ahsan - Setiawan.
“I would have liked to get at least a 2nd round in individual and doubles,” grumbled Christo Popov.
We had good matches even if we lost each time, there are a lot of positive things to remember from our matches against strong opponents.
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Decisive tournament for women this week in Orléans
“I keep a rather positive assessment since I was away last week with my back pain,” declares Toma Junior who sparked a small controversy with the French federation due to the non-presence of his English coach and his uncle Mihail on his double chair.
We have to look to the future and the next tournaments.
Everything is still possible for qualification.
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If the French women (Xuéfei, Léonice Huet and Rosy Pancasari) were not qualified for the tournament and will have to fight this week in Orléans to take an option on the Olympic sesame, the ladies' doubles Anne Tran-Margot Lambert was eliminated from the first tour but should represent France at the Olympics.
The best performance in the tournament ultimately came from the mixed doubles.
After several months of shortage (injuries and poor results), the pair Thomas Gicquel-Delphine Delrue reached the quarter-finals of the Parisian event.
“We had two good first matches, it feels great to play at this level again,” admits Thomas Gicquel.
This result gives us confidence because it has been a long time since we reached this round.
We will try to do better in Birmingham.
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This English tournament, with big points, starts this Tuesday.
The French will then go to the tournament in Switzerland and Spain before a final decisive meeting during the European Championships in April in Saarbrücken (Germany).
The verdict of the lucky ones will be known on May 1st.