ALPES INTERNATIONAL – A “Valence” of medals

3 titles, 6 medals – This is the nice result for the Blues of this first for the tournament organized by the Valencia club and the AURA League, mandated by the FFBaD.

Anya Tatranova won the best title of her young career this weekend, in Valencia, for the first edition of the International Challenge Alpes International tournament. She had won two tournaments in 2024 – in Slovenia and Finland, but of less importance. Here is a magnificent journey for the player from St Maur, who won in style, in the final, against the experienced Yvonne Li, the German, 45th in the world 21-16, 21-19 – a player from whom, by the way, she had never taken a set! This should give her confidence for the future, in addition to giving her a jump in the world rankings, where she should climb around ten places, close to the top 70!

But this is not the only good French performance this weekend, since two Franco-French finals also took place in Valence: in mixed, Natan Begga and Elsa Jacob won against their compatriots Thibault Gardon and Kathell Desmots-Chacun 21-17, 21-15, for a final which warmed the hearts of a certain Quentin Tuaillon, who trained Natan from mini bad to cadet in a small club in Meurthe et Moselle, then Kathell, whom he trained for a few years at the other end of France, in Kemperlé…

For the last match of the day, a big surprise with the victory of a pair that we were not necessarily expecting, since it was William Villeger and Maël Cattoen who narrowly won against Eloi Adam and Léo Rossi, despite being big favorites and TDS 1, while William and Maël played without their usual partners – Julien Maio and Lucas Renoir respectively, for a final which pitted players who all participated – and contributed – to the Thomas Cup silver medal a few weeks ago. This last double was breathtaking, with a finish full of suspense and Maël who was more skillful in finishing the points than in throwing his T-shirt into the stands at the end of the match…

This ends the day with a bang with three titles for the Tricolores, in addition to the men’s singles won by the Indian Satish Kumar while Chambly will console itself with the victory of its player Estelle Van Leuween in the ladies’ doubles with Abigael Harris.

The teams of Richard Remaud, Thomas Champion, Florian Baud under the direction of the President of the Rhone-Alpes Badminton region Laure Grangeon, can be proud of having succeeded in their challenge with a magnificent gray and purple field, a full house and happy French people, who leave Valence with three gold medals, two silver and a bronze medal. The appointment is given for next year!

Meanwhile, the Australian Open Super 500 (without Tricolores) was also coming to an end, with the Chinese winning 3 of the 5 titles, leaving the women’s singles to the Japanese Yamaguchi, decidedly in form, and the Indonesian Alwi Fahran.