National Men’s Triples Championship and Confederations Cup Qualifier

The turnout for this year’s Men’s Triples Championship and CCQ was relatively light, with nine teams participating. Lamorinda PC once again rolled out the red carpet with excellent hospitality in every respect. National Sport Director Etienne Rijkheer saw to it that both of the weekend’s events ran smoothly. Host clubs play a crucial role in our Sport program, and we thank the club, it’s leaders, and all the volunteers for the time and effort put towards a top notch event.

Players from as far away as Washington state and Texas made the trip and by all accounts a great time was had by all. The weather was nice and hot, as we have come to expect from Lamorinda in late summer. The Texans, as well as a strong contingent from the Fresno and Oakhurst clubs seemed to think the weather was just fine. Four strong teams made it out of the day-two pool qualifying into the semi-final matches. Team Harris/Vang/Moa bested Feaster/Johnstone/Geraud in one semi-final, while team Porto/Kurz/Thao won out over Mathis/Coughlin/Yang. In the well-played final, Harris/Vang/Moa proved too strong and took the Gold Medal. Porto/Kurz/Thao had a good start, but in the end had to settle for Silver. As is our custom for Qualifiers, there is no match for third-fourth, with the losers of the semis sharing the Bronze.

Just the numbers:
​
Gold: John Harris (Oakhurst PC), By Vang, Thomas Moua (Fresno PC)   13/7
Silver: Ed Porto, Wofie Kurz, (Petaluma Valley PC), Jer Thao (Fresno PC) 
Joint third place: Dan Feaster (Port Townsend Pétanque Alliance), David Johnstone (Portland PC), Philippe Ger-aud (Seattle PC)
Peter Mathis, Mickey Coughlin (Valley of the Moon PC), Paul Yang (Fresno PC)
In the Lamorinda Select Triples one-day event, Fresno PC made another strong showing, placing teams in first and second place. 
Gold: Nicholas Yang, Michel Yang, Fue Vang (Fresno PC)  
Silver: Patrick Bourrel, Linda Motschiedler, Janice Bis-sonnette (Fresno PC) 
Bronze: Carlos Couto, Serge Hanne (Lamorinda PC), Daniel Genini (Le Club de Pétanque-San Diego)

---