Michel Hatchadourian - The 2026 Departmental Treble | Player Profile

Michel Hatchadourian - Quick Facts

A Rare Departmental Treble, April 2026

Michel Hatchadourian is a veteran French shooter (tireur) with three national titles and a Masters de Petanque crown already behind him, but it was three consecutive weekends in April 2026 that made him the talk of regional petanque. 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, a feat regional outlet Sportmag described as historic given the strength of competition in one of France's most contested petanque departments.

The Treble, Weekend by Weekend

On 12-13 April 2026, Hatchadourian won the Bouches-du-Rhône triplette title alongside Jérémy Fernandez and David Riviera, in an all-La Boule Aixoise final. The following weekend, 18-19 April, he added the mixed doublette crown partnering Mélissa Marsille, beating John Darrigo and Megane 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 fellow La Boule Aixoise pair Sébastien Batista and Stéphane Pagni 13-8 in an all-club final.

2016: A First French Championship at Montauban

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 in the years that followed: the 2019 tête-à-tête title with CASE Nice, and the 2022 doublette title alongside Kevin Bonvarlet.

Masters de Petanque and Club Honors

Hatchadourian added the 2018 Masters de Petanque to his palmarès, France's season-ending invitational for its top squads. 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 his 2018 season produced both a French Championship and a European clubs title. After a 2024 season with La Boule Tropézienne, he has represented La Boule Aixoise in Bouches-du-Rhône since 2025, the club with which he completed his 2026 departmental treble. 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. A 2019 profile from blogpetanque.com nicknamed him "la fabrique à carreaux" - "the carreau factory" - for his reliability at clearing opposing boules under pressure, a reputation his three-title April 2026 run did nothing to dent.

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 (2022), with Kevin Bonvarlet
• Masters de Petanque champion (2018)
• Winner, Coupe de France des clubs (2017 with ABC Draguignan, 2018 with CASE Nice) and Coupe d'Europe des clubs (2018, CASE Nice)
• Historic treble of Bouches-du-Rhône departmental titles (April 2026): triplette, mixed doublette, and men's doublette, all with La Boule Aixoise

Legacy

A decade on from his first French Championship, Michel Hatchadourian used April 2026 to prove his shooting game has lost nothing to time: three departmental titles in three weekends, spread across three different partnerships, is a workload few players at any level attempt in a single season. With three French Championships, a Masters de Petanque crown, and two club-level European and national cup wins already secured, the 2026 treble reads less like a late-career surprise than confirmation of one of French club petanque's most durable shooters.