Asia continues its march forward !
From December 16th to 22d take place in Hanoi (Vietnam) the Asian Petanque Championships, the odd years being devoted to triplets: Youth, Women, Men and Mixed. Although the dates and the invitations were sent late, competitors gather a dozen countries on a wonderful site entirely dedicated to pétanque.
In addition to the two ten-meter high buildings initially constructed to host the Women's World Championships in 2011, which were finally returned to Thailand, the site indeed has 48 statutory pitches, 27 of which being fully covered for more than two years with a powerful lighting for playing at night, covered stands that can accommodate more than 1,000 people as well as tents specially designed for team rest.
The first day devoted to the precision shooting allowed to note a strong rejuvenation of the athletes, the Asian federations taking advantage of these competitions to launch in the bath new players in order to prepare the future, even if two "veterans" imposed themselves. Indeed the indefatigable Ke Leng, quadruple world champion, left no chance to the Thai Phantipha while her compatriot Sok Chanmean, world champion 2016, completed the Cambodian triumph.
However, the most beautiful final was that of the Juniors where, to decide between the two young people from Thailand and Laos, it was necessary to have recourse to the jump-off at 7 meters in which points were scored by the two players at all the workshops, for a 17 to 16 victory for Laos and ... a third silver medal for Thailand !
Note the excellent behavior of the young Japanese shooter who reached the semi-finals while the young Thai had to make an exceptional draft to get this right after a first pass at only 14 points !
Results / Semi-final:
Juniors: Thailand beats Cambodia - Laos beats Japan
Women: Cambodia beats Vietnam - Thailand 1 beats Thailand 2
Men: Cambodia beats Laos - Thailand beats Vietnam
Finals:
Juniors Laos beats Thailand
Women: Cambodia beats Thailand
Men: Cambodia beats Thailand
