Petanque, a typically French activity, is very much alive in Quebec, but is not just a French affair, far from it.
This is what we saw earlier this month during our visit to the Festi-Pétanque La Marseillaise, played in Longueuil.
An example: Dominique Koue, bowler of international caliber for 20 years. Originally from Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, Dominique now lives in Shawinigan, Mauricie. He has been in Quebec for four years. The shooter, whose employer Viandes Lafrance is his sponsor for pétanque, shakes champions from France, both individually and as a team.
Lilian Largier / QMI AGENCY
“I started with tennis in Côte d’Ivoire, at the age of 10, with friends who also played petanque, he told us. I watched the French play and I got interested.
An international competitor since 1996, aged 47, he was vice-world shooting champion in 2012 in Marseille, France, fifth best precision shooter at the world championships in 2016 in Madagascar or even African champion in 2017 in Burkina Faso.
In 2018, he represented the Ivory Coast team at the world championships which took place in Desbiens, Lac-Saint-Jean. The forty-something then fell in love with the Belle Province.
Lilian Largier / QMI AGENCY
At the Festi-Pétanque de Longueuil, Dominique Koue did not win top honors, but still made it to the quarter-finals twice. First during the head-to-head where he narrowly lost once morest the formidable world champion, the Frenchman Damien Hureau, then in the men’s triplet, associated with Quebecers Francis Côté-Dalard and Mario Gélinas, once morest the team led by the former world champion, the Belgian Claudy Weibel.
“Dominique is a great petanque player […], Francis Côté-Dalard told us. My friend Mario Gélinas, who lives near his home, asked me to play with them. We appreciate how Dominique plays, but also how he is in life, a friendly and very appreciated person.
Not just for men
During the Longueuil event, the biggest surprise came from a Quebec women’s triplet like no other, made up of the youngest player in the tournament, Ary-Ann Desmeules, 16, Kassandra Dufresne, 23, and of Johanne Picard, 69 years old. They beat the team of multiple world medalist Maryse Bergeron, from Charlebourg, in the semifinals.
“It’s so crazy, mentioned Kassandra Dufresne, the captain, introduced to pétanque by her mother. I was resuming following three years off, it was difficult with the very high heat this weekend. I come from Montreal and now live in Gatineau, Ary-Ann [est] from the Lac-Saint-Jean region and Johanne, who brings us her experience, from Lévis. We put the team together this summer. We followed each other and we had wanted to play together for five years.
However, they lost in the final once morest the triplet led by the Canadian champion and world medalist, Sonia Coulombe.
The Festi-Pétanque brought together 650 participants this year.
Provincially, Pétanque Québec has 30 clubs for 3,500 affiliated players. The federation estimates the total number of players in Quebec at 100,000, including those who practice the activity occasionally or as a hobby.
