In addition to the exciting and fast back-and-forth duels of “little white balls” on the billiard arena, players with personal characteristics often attract the attention of the audience. For example, Japanese female player Mima Ito, who won the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics, is impressive because of her “mysterious serve” like dancing. The player to be introduced today is known as a “European Rising Star”, and his unique grip and batting techniques have made netizens who have watched his games describe him as “incredible”. Even the Olympic gold medalist Ma Long of China played against him. He shook his head and smiled wryly.
Felix Lebrun, 15 years old this year, is the only “straight shot” player among the new generation of billiard players. The straight shot is the traditional way of holding the racket. However, with the changes in the rules of billiards, most professional players now use “horizontal shot” as the mainstream. The grip method, but most people who have played billiards will always have a feeling for “straight shot”, so when everyone sees Lebrun, they are very excited. The eliminated grip method has become a new weapon for defeating world famous players.
Lebrun was born in a French snooker family in 2006. His father and uncle were both well-known billiard players in France. From the age of 3, his father brought him and his brother Alexis to play snooker. At first, he practiced “horizontal shot” like most people. But one day, when he saw a video of a straight shot of a player’s game, he decided to change from a horizontal shot to a “straight shot” grip. However, because there was no one around him who could teach him to use a straight shot, he almost always played the game. He figured it out on his own, which is why anyone watching Lebrun for the first time will be amazed at how he plays.
Since the age of 10, Lebrun has repeatedly won championships in European youth snooker events, and won the men’s singles, doubles, and team championships at the 2021 European Youth Championships. In November of that year, he participated in the WTT (World Snooker Major League) for the first time. Just when he and his brother entered the quarterfinals in the doubles event, he even defeated Taiwan’s “Billiard Godfather” Zhuang Zhiyuan in the WTT Challenge Slovenia Station.
In 2022, Lebrun won the WTT series for the first time, and the world ranking rose sharply from 1132 in the previous year. He met Malone, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, for the first time in the Budapest Station. When everyone thought Malone would win easily, Lebrun took it In the first game, not only did he fall below everyone’s glasses but also made his opponent Ma Long nervous. Although Lebrun was defeated in the end, Ma Long also admitted that he was a little embarrassed and praised Lebrun for playing well. , This battle made people see his potential, and also made everyone curious about this blond and blue-eyed straight shooter.
Lebrun, currently ranked 71st in the world, challenges strong players from all over the world with his unique “straight shot” style of play, proving to the world that “there is no winning formula, only the way that suits you best” on the table tennis court. He is not yet at the peak of his physical fitness. I believe that if he is given time to accumulate experience, his future achievements will certainly not stop there.
Recommended reading
