Michel Hatchadourian - The 2026 Departmental Treble | Player Profile

Michel Hatchadourian - Quick Facts

A Departmental Treble, April 2026

Michel Hatchadourian is a veteran French shooter (tireur) with three national titles and a Masters de Pétanque crown already behind him, but it was three consecutive weekends in April 2026 that made him the talk of regional pétanque. Playing for La Boule Aixoise, he won the Bouches-du-Rhône departmental championship in triplette, mixed doublette, and men's doublette, all in the same month, in one of France's most contested pétanque departments. Sportmag headlined the third title simply: "Hatchadourian fait le triplé !"

The Treble, Weekend by Weekend

On 11-12 April 2026, Hatchadourian won the Bouches-du-Rhône triplette title alongside Jérémy Fernandez and David Riviera, beating club teammates Sébastien Batista, Stéphane Pagni and Rinaldo Uhlmann 13-0 in an all-La Boule Aixoise final, after a 13-12 semi-final against Miramas. The following weekend, 18-19 April, he added the mixed doublette crown partnering Mélissa Marsille, beating John Darrigo and Mégane Cacciatore of Ciotadens La Ciotat in the final. He completed the set on 25-26 April with the men's doublette title, again with Jérémy Fernandez, defeating Batista and Pagni 13-8 in another all-club final.

The run carried on to the national stage. At the 2026 French Mixed Doublette Championship in Ajaccio on 27-28 June, Hatchadourian and Marsille reached the semi-finals, where they lost 13-6 to the eventual champions, Andréa Bréhamet and Andssy Hut.

French Champion in Three Formats

Hatchadourian's national breakthrough came a decade earlier, at the 2016 French Championship in Montauban, where he won the men's triplette title playing for ABC Draguignan alongside Romain Fournié and Ludovic Montoro, beating a Loiret team of Sébastien Mirailles, Julien Bua and Christophe Trembleau 13-7 in the final, a result also documented on this site's own Ludovic Montoro profile. He returned to the top of the podium twice more: the 2019 tête-à-tête title with CASE Nice, and the 2022 doublette title in Bergerac alongside Kévin Bonvarlet. That 2022 run went through Dylan Rocher and Henri Lacroix, the holders chasing a fifth straight doublette title, in the quarter-finals, and ended with a 13-4 final win over Mickaël Bonetto and David Riviera.

European Silver for Armenia, 2025

Hatchadourian has also competed internationally for Armenia. At the 2025 European Precision Shooting Championship in Santa Susanna, Spain, held during the men's European Championships, he was listed under Armenia's flag and reached the final, where he lost 39-24 to France's Mickaël Bonetto to take the silver medal. Diego Rizzi of Italy and José Rivière of Monaco shared bronze.

Masters de Pétanque and Club Honors

Hatchadourian won the 2018 Masters de Pétanque, France's elite invitational circuit, with the Montoro team of Ludovic Montoro, Maison Durk and Jean-Michel Puccinelli. At club level, he has been a two-time winner of the Coupe de France des clubs, first with ABC Draguignan in 2017 and again with CASE Nice in 2018, the same year CASE Nice also won the Coupe d'Europe des clubs with Hatchadourian in the lineup.

Club Career

Hatchadourian's club career has taken him from ABC Draguignan in the Var, where he won his first French title and a Coupe de France des clubs, to CASE Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes, where he won the 2018 Coupe de France des clubs and Coupe d'Europe des clubs and the 2019 French tête-à-tête title. He then played in Corsica for Ajaccio, winning the 2022 French doublette title and leading the city's shooting in the 2022 Trophée des Villes, before leaving the island for La Boule Tropézienne in 2024. He joined La Boule Aixoise from Saint-Tropez for the 2025 season, alongside David Riviera, and completed his 2026 departmental treble with the club. Rankingspetanque.com credits him with 12 appearances at the French Championships since 2007, a mark of the longevity behind his 2026 form.

Playing Style

Hatchadourian plays as a shooter (tireur), the position behind all three of his French Championship titles, and he has said that tête-à-tête is the format that suits him best. His 2022 season stood out: Ajaccio coach José Murati told Sportmag that year that he was "le meilleur tireur de la planète sur cette année 2022" ("the best shooter on the planet this year"), adding that the French title had done a great deal for his confidence.

Achievements and Honors

• French Champion, Triplette (Montauban, 2016), with Romain Fournié and Ludovic Montoro, for ABC Draguignan
• French Champion, Tête-à-tête (2019), with CASE Nice
• French Champion, Doublette (Bergerac, 2022), with Kévin Bonvarlet
• Masters de Pétanque champion (2018), with Ludovic Montoro, Maison Durk and Jean-Michel Puccinelli
• Winner, Coupe de France des clubs (2017 with ABC Draguignan, 2018 with CASE Nice) and Coupe d'Europe des clubs (2018, CASE Nice)
• Treble of Bouches-du-Rhône departmental titles (April 2026): triplette, mixed doublette, and men's doublette, all with La Boule Aixoise
• French Championship semi-finalist, Mixed Doublette (Ajaccio, 2026), with Mélissa Marsille
• European Championship silver medalist, Precision Shooting (Santa Susanna, 2025), representing Armenia

Legacy

A decade on from his first French Championship, Michel Hatchadourian used 2026 to show his shooting has lost nothing to time: three departmental titles in three weekends with three different partnerships, followed by a national semi-final in mixed doublette. With French titles in triplette, tête-à-tête and doublette, a Masters de Pétanque crown, and three club cup wins at national and European level, he stands as one of French club pétanque's most durable shooters.