For now, the plan is going smoothly. Winners without batting an eyelid over Portugal on Wednesday (3-0), the Ping Blues are preparing to face Brazil this Friday in the quarter-final of the world team championships, in London. The squad led by the Lebrun brothers, with Simon Gauzy as lieutenant-colonel and the youngsters Florent Coton and Thibault Poret as talented seconds, looks great. Despite a new, rather incomprehensible formula coming out of the hat of the International Federation, she is pursuing her dream of a first world title. China, a possible opponent this weekend in the semi-final, will undoubtedly not be as confident as at the Paris Olympics.
Bench depth
The players coached by Nathanaël Molin have impressed since the start of the competition. Seed number 2 on paper, France nevertheless had to deal with the big nations of the game like Japan and Germany as soon as it entered the fray, in a non-eliminatory group phase but which served to redefine the seedings for the future. An unprecedented oddity which the Blues would have done without, but which ultimately allowed them to sharpen their weapons.
After beating Taiwan and Germany quite clearly, they overthrew Japan despite a tricky start with the defeats of Félix and Alexis Lebrun at the start. Surprise guest of this meeting, Flavien Coton, just 18 years old, sparked a revolt by beating world number 18 Shunsuke Togami. The brothers then found themselves raising the level to complete the comeback (3-2). “This format was quite uncomfortable, but we knew how to take it in the right way,” said high performance director Jean-René Mounié, contacted on Wednesday. We have a very homogeneous team, we knew how to use it and that gives us strength for the future.”
Apart from China, ultra-dominant for three decades, no other team than France can boast of having a group of five players ranked in the top 30 in the world. The experienced Simon Gauzy (19th) is no longer systematically aligned as a third man, because Flavien Coton (23rd) and Thibault Poret (26th) have become more than reliable recourses in case of necessity. It was the young Northerner who scored the third point against the Portuguese.
“There are two very positive things with him,” explains Mounié. Its results, obviously, which speak for themselves [Coton a remporté fin mars son premier tournoi de niveau WTT Contender]but also the emotional stability of which he is capable at his age. It gives a very interesting foundation to the team. » With Félix Lebrun (world number 4) back at his best level for a few weeks after a long period of in-depth work, here are the Blues equipped to see far.
La Chine « fragilisée »
World vice-champions and Olympic bronze medalists two years ago, European champions last year, they do not intend to settle for runners-up. They feel strong, and what’s more, the Chinese have shown unusual signs of weakness in recent days. While they had not lost a single match at world level for 26 years, they lost two on the way during the first phase, against South Korea (1-3) then Sweden (2-3). Without too many consequences for the future, but the opponents didn’t miss a beat.
« “It’s true that today there are openings that seem more important. We can clearly see that China is in more difficulty than in recent years, reports the director of French high performance. They are weakened, but be careful, they still remain the best team in the world.” »
Certainly, we will not find anyone to come face to face with the Chinese by proclaiming themselves favorite. It doesn’t stop it. Behind the unplayable number 1 Wang Chuqin, there is now only one representative of the ping empire in the world’s top 10 (Lin Shidong), when there were five of them to occupy the top five places two years ago. Sign of crumbling? Rather, a competition in constant progress.
“The level of other teams has never been so high. There is a homogeneity in the world top 6 which was unknown until now, believes Jean-René Mounié. It’s the first time in a very long time that we have had such a density. » Behind France, the Sweden of the prodigy Truls Moregard, the Japan of Harimoto and Matsushima, Germany and South Korea are all big outsiders. Even Hugo Calderano’s Brazil, winner of the World Cup last year, looks set to be a tough opponent on the road to the final four.
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In this new world order that is taking shape, the Blues have their cards to play. “We know that the bar is high. But we have to focus on our strengths, on what we know how to do. I think we are on track, concludes Mounié. We believe in it strongly, very strongly. Boys have had this conviction for a long time now.” “We have this title in the back of our minds, it’s our dream. But for the moment, we are in quarters, adds Félix Lebrun, questioned by The Team. The goal is the medal. We’re going to focus on that first.” Casually, this would only be the third in the history of this team in the modern era, after 1997 and 2024.
