Le Mistral Club at the World Championships in Monaco 2001
Possibly exploiting the home court advantage at Green Hill Park, but nevertheless defying the odds makers, the cold rain and not the least the formidable talent of the opposition, a team comprised of longtime Le Mistral Club members stunned a field of entrants from across the US to win the F.P.U.S.A. World Championship (Seniors) Qualifiers in August 2000. Click here for a first-hand account of this exciting qualification match, played that year on Le Mistral's newly-built terrain in Green Hill Park.
That victory gave Le Mistral Club the right to represent the USA at the 37th World Championships to be played in Monaco in 2001, making the 7th time that Le Mistral Club co-Founder Albert Kallanian has led a USA team in the World Championship. This championship would prove to be especially memorable for a number of reasons, both positive and negative. Sadly, the Monaco tournament took place just a few weeks after the horrific events in the US on September 11, casting a pall over the event. A tribute was paid in acknowledgement on opening night when a minute of silence was observed during the opening processional by the thousands of spectators and players upon the entry of the US team from Le Mistral Club.
Pictured
here is the USA team from Le Mistral Club at the opening of the 37th World Championships in Monaco 2001, from left: Levon
Bogosian, Louis Toulon (alternate 4th player from California), Albert
Kallanian, and Jacques Azadian. "I will never forget the emotion of
that moment of silence when we entered the boulodrome", said Albert.
A sobering start to the event. But still there were some positives. Albert, Levon and Jacques, longtime
residents and naturalized citizens of the U.S., are native sons of La Provence, and they were going home. The would see old friends
and relatives in Marseilles, revisit the places of their youth, and have the opportunity to compete at the highest levels of the game they
love.
Le Mistral Club is shown here at right playing against Denmark in the first round. Ahead 11-0 at one point, Albert, Levon and Jacques had to withstand a ferocious come-back by the Danes who scored 4, 3 and 2 points in successive ends to pull within 11-9. The viewing stands were filled with cheering red-shirted Danes, who grew increasingly louder as their countrymen closed the gap. However, Le Mistral Club withstood the Danish pressure and gained their 2nd win, earning a spot in the 16th finals.
In
the 2nd round, Le Mistral Club lost against tough triplettes from Senegal and Mali, and
thus were bumped into the Coupe des Nations tournament for the consolantes
. Le Mistral Club managed a couple of more wins against teams from Ireland
and Australia (shown at right), before losing to eventual quarter finalist Mali.
In
the end, it was a great showing by our U.S. representatives from Le Mistral Club
with wins against some fantastic teams from countries where pétanque is played
much more widely and at a higher level of competition. Reaching the 16th
final was a great achievement - and the 2nd time Le Mistral Club had gotten that
far in its
7 appearances at the World Championships. The photo at left shows the
entire USA delegation consisting of (from left to right) Louis Toulon, Jacques
Azadian, FPUSA President Mike Norton, Levon Bogosian, and Albert Kallanian. [photo courtesy of PétanqueAmerica.com]
website created by brwalsh