Standing on the table, arms in the sky, Alexis shouts her joy at the top of her lungs. Then his gaze meets that of Félix, clouded with the first tears. He then approaches to give him a brief hug full of emotion, a Homeric conclusion to a historic weekend for French table tennis. An “extraordinary moment” that “we will remember for a long time”, he summed up a few minutes later.
At the end of a stifling final, the oldest Lebrun retained his title of champion of France. Plunging his 17-year-old brother, although higher ranked than him, into infinite sadness. Stars at home in a trance-filled FDI Stadium in Montpellier, the two new heroes of French sport were able to test their new popularity four months before the Olympics and confirm that their sport was the hype of the moment.
