Ivar defeats three world champions and snags the silver medal at the European Championships

In this year's edition of the Pétanque European Championship, twenty-five-year-old Ivar Liljegren, Head of Pétanque at Boulebar Group, made quite an impact. His tactic – high risk, high reward – took him all the way to a silver medal and made both him and Sweden a force to be reckoned with in France's national sport. ‘Tactics are incredibly important in a pétanque match. It's about throwing the opponent off balance. Undermining their confidence. That's why I play super-offensively. I shoot hard and take big risks. It often works well. Especially this time.’

Ivar smiles broadly when he talks about last weekend's European Championship tournament in Switzerland.

‘France are by far the pétanque champions. It's their national sport. Anything less than a win for France is a catastrophe. When I managed to defeat the thirteen-times French world champion, Henri Lacroix, in the group stage the audience started whispering. When I then beat him again in the semifinal, the murmurs turned into a standing ovation. It felt insanely good. And I have a lot to thank my coach William Silfverberg for. He's a tactical genius.’

It was in the championship's singles competition that Ivar defeated Henri Lacroix. And besides the win against France, Ivar also won against two other world champions: Christophe Sévilla (Monaco) and Alessio Cocciolo (Italy). He then faced yet another world champion, Jesus Escacho (only 22 years old), in the final and got a taste of his own medicine. The Spaniard played an even more offensive game than Ivar.

‘He really got me there. Jesus got into a completely wild shooting flow. It couldn't be disrupted. I fell into my own trap. Hats off to him.’

Back home in Stockholm, the match was broadcasted live on a big screen at Boulebar Tanto. A hundred supporters were on site and followed Ivar through the tournament. In the future, we can probably expect a larger turnout and even more interest. Pétanque is a sport that more and more people are discovering. In London, for example, where Ivar has trained bouleguides at Boulebar South Bank (which opened in June 2023), the interest is great.

‘Pétanque is trendy in London. Hipsters are taking over pétanque courts and gravel paths all over the city. They have realized the greatness of a sport where you can both be social and indulge your competitive instinct’, says Ivar.

But what are Ivar's plans for the summer?

‘I’m going to France to ‘train’. I've signed myself, my girlfriend, and my dad up for the Mondial la Marseillaise (the world's largest pétanque competition). It will be fun. And not too serious. But winning would be fun. It's always fun.’



The Result European Championship Boule Pétanque Singles Men 2024