Baseball5: In Nîmes, where the French Open is taking place, stars in the eyes and on the field

Omar Diodene-Pacheco et le Nîmois Nathan Cregut, coéquipiers en équipe de France et adversaires, samedi.

Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd February, the French Open takes place in Nîmes. A 5th edition during which the audience at the Halle des Sports delights in the spectacle on the field, where one of the best players in the world is playing.

Portable connected speaker, playlist on the phone, with the famous hit by Gala, ‘’Free from desire’’, which escapes from the corridor of the locker rooms, Omar Diodene-Pacheco prepares his match. A strange way to concentrate for one of the planetary stars of this sport.

Yet, that’s also a bit of the atmosphere of baseball5. Friendliness, simplicity, diversity on the field (at least 2 girls out of 5 players), in addition to the spectacle on the playing area.

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''I'm happy to come here, this crowd is really welcoming'', notes Diodene-Pacheco

''I'm happy to come here, this crowd is really welcoming'', rejoices the 33-year-old Franco-Cuban – MVP of the 2024 World Cup with France (3rd) – who has nevertheless already experienced another atmosphere.
''We also meet up between teams, we continue to be a family'', continues the leader of Thiais Tigers, winner (9-2) of Nîmes 1 during the shock of group A.

''We played a great match against the Nîmes players. We are the champions (Thiais titled at the 2024 French Open) and we want to keep our title'', Diodene-Pacheco points out. From what it showed on Saturday, the Parisian team seems to be positioning itself as the favourite for its own succession.

Mixed results for Nîmes

''Against Thiais, we just cracked in one set (the game is played in 5). Without a mistake, the match would have been different'', underlines the Nîmes native Nathan Cregut, also a French international and Diodene-Pacheco's teammate in the national team.

Baseball5 is a dynamic discipline (Cregut, here in the throw), fun and urban.

With 4 wins and 1 loss, Nîmes 1 (2nd) will see the Super round (3 matches) on Sunday morning. Then, why not, the final at 3 p.m. Unlike Nîmes Université (4th in group A) and Nîmes 2 (6th in group B), who were unable to pass the qualifications. ''It's nice to see everyone coming home for this sport. There's a crazy atmosphere, it's great'', exclaims Cregut.

A sport present at the Youth Olympic Games in 2026

For baseball5, created in 2016, the best is yet to come. Starting with 2026 and its presence, as an official sport, on the Youth Olympic Games calendar in Dakar (Senegal). With Diodene-Pacheco, France already has its flagship: ''In Cuba, I played baseball. In France, baseball5 is growing. Seven years ago, I saw that here, people were counting on me.''

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