Pétanque in Peru

Peru follows the same governance pattern already established in Italy, Croatia, and Chile: a single national federation covers several related boules disciplines under one roof, with pétanque (petanca) as one organized branch alongside raffa volo. The Federación Deportiva Peruana de Bochas (FDPB), recognized by the Comité Olímpico Peruano (COPERU) and by the Instituto Peruano del Deporte (IPD) as the governing body for bochas, oversees the sport nationally and has been a member of the FIPJP since 2021. Lima's Country Club Chama is the country's central pétanque venue, and Peru's petanca players won medals on home soil at the 2024 Bolivarian Games.

History

The FDPB was founded in 1965, according to COPERU's federation directory and Peru's official newspaper El Peruano. It governs bochas' two main competitive codes in Peru, raffa volo and petanca. Pétanque itself is a recent growth area: in August 2022 the French-language Le Petit Journal Lima reported that Peru had developed the game over the previous three years and counted around ten clubs and 150 licensed players.

The FDPB joined the Fédération Internationale de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal (FIPJP) in 2021, according to the FIPJP's own national federation sheet for Peru, which lists the federation as the "Peruvian Sports Federation of Bocce" with its seat at the Estadio Nacional (Puerta 26) in Lima. Peru is one of the 14 national federations the FIPJP lists under its Pan-American confederation.

The IPD recognized the FDPB's 2021-2024 board of directors, headed by president Pedro Antonio Carreño Mendiola with Jesús Cáceres Arrieta as vice president, under Resolución Nº0143-DNCTD-RND-2021; Carreño is still named as president on the FIPJP's sheet. A new board was recognized for the 2025-2028 Olympic cycle in January 2025, and the federation's 2026 performance-funding agreement with the IPD (Convenio 004-2026, signed in February 2026) names Alberto Cuneo Zaharia as FDPB president.

Domestic Scene

Country Club Chama, in the Surco district of Lima, is Peru's principal pétanque venue. The Union des Français de l'Étranger (UFE) Pérou, the local French expatriate association, organized an early pétanque tournament there between teams drawn from the UFE and the French Embassy and teams from the Peruvian bochas federation, aimed at promoting the sport locally. The club hosted the I Lima Petanca Open, scheduled for 7-8 March 2020 and organized by Lanfranco & Córdova and the club with the backing of the FDPB, which billed itself as Peru's "primer campeonato" (first championship) and announced French world champions Dylan Rocher and Damien Hureau as invited players.

In August 2022 the federation staged what Le Petit Journal Lima described as Peru's first international pétanque Open: a 48-team doubles tournament at Country Club Chama, followed that weekend by a Pan-American men's triples event. French pétanque freestyle influencer Tanguy Penin gave a demonstration at the Alliance française de Lima and played the doubles with Argentine former world vice-champion Néstor Guevara.

International Results

Peru has been a regular participant in Pan-American competition. It hosted the Panamericano Varones Tercetos Petanca, a Pan-American men's triples event authorized by the IPD for 25-26 August 2022 in Lima. Peru was among the eight nations at the 2023 Pan-American qualifier in Limache, Chile, and among the eight teams at the Pan-American qualifier for the 2026 Men's Triples World Championship, held in Iquique, Chile, in November 2025, where the United States, Dominican Republic, and Argentina took the three World Championship places (see Chile and our 2026 World Championship preview).

Peru's biggest pétanque moment to date came at the 2024 Bolivarian Games (Juegos Bolivarianos del Bicentenario), hosted by Ayacucho in late November and early December 2024, where bochas was contested at the Complejo Canaan Alto in both its raffa volo and petanca modalities. Rosalba Rojas won gold in the women's individual petanca event, Erik Bardelli took bronze in the men's individual, and Bardelli and Rojas added bronze in mixed petanca. Bardelli, speaking to the newspaper Jornada, described bochas as "a sport for everyone," inclusive across ages and abilities. In raffa volo, siblings Sandro and Mariolina Saletti each won individual silver and also medaled in the mixed event, part of a host-nation performance that put Peru top of the overall medal table across all sports (49 gold, 114 medals in total).

Looking ahead, the Federación Mexicana de Petanca's 2026 calendar lists Peru as the planned host of the Pan-American senior doubles qualifier in November 2026, noting that the Pan-American confederation had so far only announced its intention to stage the event there.

Federation Contact

The FDPB's registered legal address, as given in its February 2026 agreement with the IPD, is Av. De las Artes Sur 640, Urb. San Borja Sur, San Borja, Lima. The FIPJP lists its correspondence email as perou@fipjp.com; the federation has also been reached at fedbochasperu@hotmail.com.