After a 5-year absence, the ‘world-series’ pétanque (bowls) competition returns to Almuñécar and on Playa San Cristóbal, as always.
The Chairman of the Almuñécar club, Guillermo Pimentel, announced that the tournament would be held on the 29th and 30th of November on the old football pitch on Playa San Cristóbal.
The tournament will comprise of five or six trebles who will compete in the mini-league (liguilla).
Each one will play a minimum of five matches with the top two going on to the next level, those in third and fourth position will move down to the consolation matches and the fifth and sixth place players will be shot and buried on the beach… Nah, just kidding, but they will be eliminated… from the tournament.
It’s called the Mundalito because there will be players from Spain, Morocco, Denmark and France. Admittedly, there are only 20 people with their names down as yet even though the last time it was held there were 120 competitors.
Prizes? 1st Prize, 1,000 euros, 2nd 500 and 3rd, 250 euros. In the consolation matches the 1st Prize is 500, 2nd is 300, 3rd is 210 euros and 4th, shot and buried on the beach…
If you want to participate, it will cost you 45 euros for each triplet (team of three players) and for the Ladies only 30 euros… it’s called equality.
More info, phone 658 396 016 or 629 646 265.
Just a bit on the history of the game: The modern version of the game came into being in 1910 and was organized by two brother who owned a café at La Ciotat (France) and before you could say “Oy, stop touching my bowls,” it had become the most popular version of French boules in the country.
The name derives from pès tancats which literally means feet anchored. Why? Because this version of boules was knocked up for a chap with rheumatism who couldn’t do the run up as in normal boules, so the playing area was halved in size and you have to throw with your feet together with no run up. You’re thinking that this is a load of old bowls, but it’s true!
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)