Between medals of all metals and WTT titles, French table tennis led by its locomotives Alexis and Felix Lebruncrowned in doubles in Fukuoka (Japan) on Saturday, had a historic year. A look back in five dates at this crazy year.
February 25: Money happy in Busan
To start the year, the French men’s team, made up of Félix, Alexis Lebrun and Simon Gauzyreached the final of the World Team Championships in Busan (South Korea), where they faced the queen nation of the discipline, China. Widely beaten (3-0), the three compatriots nevertheless equal the best French result in the eventwhich dated from 1997. Great promises before the Games. For the ladies, Prithika Pavade, Charlotte Lutz and Jia Nan Yuanalso beaten by the Chinese, returned from South Korea with bronze around their necks, a performance which had not been achieved for 33 years.
August 4: Olympic Games and tanned summer
The tricolor ping remained before the Olympics on a distant memory, that of a bronze medal gleaned in 2000, in Sydney, in doubles by Jean-Philippe Gatien and Patrick Chila. The last one in singles? Money from this same Gatien in Barcelona in 1992. Félix Lebrun was born… 14 years later. But in Paris, the young 17-year-old table tennis player reveals himself a little more to the general public, by adorning themselves with bronze individually a few days before offering victory for third place to the trio he formed with his brother and Simon Gauzy against Japan (3-2).
October 20: Alexis at the summit of Europe
When one Lebrun hides another. In Linz at the European Championships, Félix Lebrun, among the big favorites, cracks from the quarter-finals of the competition, overthrown by the German Benedikt Duda. Alexis, 21, then takes over and rushes to win the title after a perfect day, started with the double coronation of the two brothers. From Austria, the Blues will also leave with a bronze medal in mixed doubles, won by the pair Simon Gauzy and Prithika Pavade.
October 27: Félix as star in Montpellier
In their land of birth and training in Hérault, the Lebrun brothers were received as stars for the first WTT Champions, the second level tournament of the international circuit, organized in Montpellier. After offering their public a fratricidal duel – which turned in favor of the younger brother – in the quarter-finals, Félix Lebrun overviews the rest of the competition and becomes the first Frenchman to win in a Champions.
November 23: in Japan, the Lebruns see double
Coming out in singles in Fukuoka, for their last WTT tournament of the season, Alexis and Félix Lebrun ended their year on Sunday with a final celebrationby winning in the doubles final of the WTT Finals, after beating the Japanese Hiroto Shinozuka and Shunsuke Togami (3-2). A final title synonymous with world number 1.
