What a weekend PadelShot Saint-Etienne during interclubs Ladies National 2 of the Eastern Conference with a narrow victory for TC Nice Giordan (PCA) against TC Bandol (PCA) 2 – 1.
Who better than the captain of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur club to tell us about it: Julie Pecastaing.
“A cohesive team that gets along well”
“Our team, TC Nice Giordan, qualified among the 8 teams for this competition in Saint-Étienne. We lost in the regional finals, but were drafted at league weight.
Each match consisted of three matches, and our goal was to win at least 2. Our team was made up of six players: myself, as captain, ranked No. 35; Alexia Dechaume-Balleret, our assistant captain, ranked N 40; Ophelie Wuithier, ranked N 43; Émilie Guez, N 57; Kimy Barla, N 82 – moreover, she was a finalist in the French U18 championships at just 15 years old; and Émilie Guisier, N 88.
For the matches, we kept a constant formation throughout the championship: Émilie Guez was associated with Ophélie Wuithier, Alexia Dechaume-Balleret formed a duo with Kimy Barla, and I myself played alongside Émilie Guisier.
In the quarter-finals, we triumphed over a Corsican team with a clear score of 3-0.
In the semi-finals, we faced and beat the Chambéry team by the same score: 3-0.”
A crazy finale…
“The final against Bandol was particularly intense. After a first defeat 6/1 7/6, our duo composed of Alexia and Kimy bounced back brilliantly with a victory 6/0 6/2.
The decisive match saw my association with Émilie Guisier against a solid pair from Bandol. After one set won, one set lost, we engaged in a very close 3rd set, finally winning the match 7/6, with a tie-break won 9/7. It took us six match points to win. The victory propelled us into N1, and the emotion at the end was simply indescribable.”
Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.