January 2019
IC France win 2019 Robert Abdesselam Trophy
7th TROPHEE ROBERT ABDESSELAM
The Robert Abdesselam Trophy goes to France!
After the first edition in Bordeaux in 2009, then Barcelona in 2011 (ex aequo with Spain) and Knokke le Zoute in 2015, France has won the competition for the 4th time.
It took place in the very friendly club of Beaulieu sur Mer from October 21 to 24 2019.
The country that was invited by our IC was Switzerland.
Reminder of the formula: a round robin with the 4 countries (France, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland); 1 MD 55/60 years old, 1 WD 50/55 years old and 2 DX .
The level of play of this 7th edition was particularly high, with great quality and spectacular matches. Among the players, a good number had represented their country at World Championships and earned a World champion title, either individually or in their teams. (see the composition of the teams in the results)
On the first day, in glorious weather, France beat the cosmopolitan Swiss team 3/1 while Belgium and Spain tied 2/2.
But then the weather conditions became rather fickle and we were forced to adapt and modify our program.
The last 2 days were grouped into one with short formats (sets in 4 games and "match tie break" as a 3rd set).
The matches took place between showers and most of them ended under artificial light.
We had just enough time to beat Belgium 3/1 during the first part of that day, Switzerland and Spain drawing 2/2.
So a draw against Spain was enough for France to finish first.
After winning a MD and losing a WD, we had to win at least one DX, which was quickly achieved by the Larras-Moracchini pair.
A general victory being thus acquired by France, lightning and thunder becoming more and more impressive and a heavy rain more and more likely, it was then much wiser to stop the matches for good.
The final ranking is: 1: France - 5 points
2: ex aequo: Spain and Switzerland - 3 points
4: Belgium -1 point
To conclude that day a very pleasant official dinner was organized at l’“Aristée”, a renowned restaurant in Beaulieu, and after kind words of thanks from each delegation and from Pierre Hervé Gautier for the Robert Abdesselam Foundation, the Mayor of the town presented the cup to the French team.
On the cultural side, the players really appreciated the visit we had planned on Tuesday afternoon to Villa Kerylos, anoriginal reconstruction of an ancient Greek residence, and also, for some of them, the visit to the “Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild”, a magnificent palace with dreamlike gardens, added to the program on Thursday morning.
The 8th edition of the TRA will take place in Belgium.
Download the full results here