The little white ball has not finished bouncing all weekend long at the Glaz Arena in Cesson-Sévigné. The French table tennis elite met there for the French championships in the discipline from December 17 to 19. Brittany will host this competition for the seventh time. A major organization for the FFTT and OC Cessonnais, which is co-organizing this edition.
“Since Monday, 50 volunteers per day have been on the bridge. From this Friday, we go to 120 volunteers per day“explains Valentin Aubergier, the manager of the competition and the local organization. More than 4000 spectators are expected over the three days of competition. An organization which was not an easy task, health crisis obliges, as evidenced by the president of OC Cesson Bertrand Cloarec: “You should know that we started discussing it with the FFTT in June 2020, that it was planned for March, that it was postponed to May and that we are now in December … For us it is a culmination. ! We will take advantage but it was a very, very big job with a super professional team.“
– Francois Rauzy
The players are also eager to do battle, like Bastien Rembert, bronze medalist in 2020, who started table tennis in Vern-sur-Seiche and who now plays in Angers: “I will have relatives who will come, former teammates of Vern … It will make me happy to play in front of them, to try to perform, while making them happy!“He will also be opposed in the 1/32 finals to one of his former partners in Vern-sur-Seiche, Thibault Bailliet. French number 1 Simon Gauzy will go straight to the 1/16 final.
Among the players, the two stars will be the two French representatives at the Tokyo Olympics in singles, Jia Nan Yuan and Pritikha Pavade. The 17-year-old prodigy is impressed by the Cessonnaise installation: “It’s a chance for us players to be able to play in such conditions, it’s just incredible! In addition we know that often the atmosphere is present, it’s nice, and we hope to set fire!“Places are still available for sale to attend the event on the site of these French championships.