Petanque comes to the Palace in London

LONDON - May 26, 2018 - PRLog -- French flair will come to Crystal Palace, London on June 9, 2018, as the London Petanque Club welcomes international and local players, including world champion players for the inaugural London Petanque Championship. The championship has a total prize pot exceeding £5,000.

The London Petanque Championship has a full complement of 192 competitors registered in 64 triples teams for the competition, including Belgian world champion Claudy Weibel who has been crowned best in the world in both singles and triples. He will be playing with two-time triples world champion David le Dantec from France.

Appearing in another of the teams is Julien Lamour, a world champion from France, who is teaming up with Mickaël Rosati, a champion from the Lyon Championships, and Patrick Messoniers, a winner of Le Mondial la Marseillaise à Pétanque – one of the three "world" championships of petanque.

A Mauritian team that finished high in the World Championship is also joining the competition and Americans players are coming in force, with some of the country's top players competing in American teams and others linking up with English and French talents. German coach Alex Bauer will be teaming up with European championship bronze medallist Noel Kempeneers from Holland and several strong English teams have signed up to play against the international champions.

"Although some of the players have an intimidating list of achievements, they are great sportsmen too, making this an opportunity for new players, players looking to improve and young players to test themselves against the best and learn from them," says Monty Quaia, an English International player from London Petanque Club.

Spectators are welcome to come and watch the tournament and learn more about the game. London Petanque Club members will be on hand to help anyone interested in coming to regular sessions.

– End –

About petanque:

Petanque (pronounced PEYTONK) – also known as Boules (BOOL) – originates in France where it is played in almost every village and town. An easy and enjoyable game to learn, its best players are highly tactical and ruthless.

With Paris hosting the 2024 Olympic Games, and the new IOC rules that allow Olympic host cities to propose the addition of one or more sports to their games, the Bowls Sports World Confederation, which is recognised by the International Olympic Committee, is campaigning on behalf of three disciplines: French petanque, Boule Lyonnaise and Raffa, a version of the game popular in Italy, for Petanque, or boules, to become an Olympic sport.

In England, the sport is administered nationally by the English Petanque Association (EPA) and locally by the 16 County Regions. The EPA lists 172 member clubs, with 2,816 licensed players.

Three clubs form the London Petanque Association – London Petanque Club, Croydon Petanque Club and Harrow Petanque Club.

About London Petanque Club:

London Petanque Club plays every Wednesday afternoon till late and every Saturday from 11am at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. Anybody of any age or skill can come and play. Monthly competitions are held on the first Saturday of every month throughout the year

Iwww.londonpetanqueclub.ukI