Nelly Peyré - French Pétanque Champion | Player Profile

Nelly Peyré - Quick Facts

A Career Built on Three Formats

Nelly Peyré's pétanque career began at Saint-Martory in the Haute-Garonne, where she won her first French title in 2011 - a women's triplette crown alongside Anaïs Lapoutge and Pascale Pontac - and backed it up with a doublette title the following year, again with Lapoutge. That 2012 season also brought her first European gold, winning the women's triplette title in a French squad alongside Angélique Colombet, Anna Maillard and Marie-Angèle Germain, four years after an earlier European Espoirs (under-23) triplette title in 2008.

A move to Boule Fontesienne in the Gironde brought two more French titles in the individual tête-à-tête event, in 2017 and 2018, establishing Peyré as one of the strongest all-around competitors in French women's pétanque - equally capable of team formats and the pure shooting test of a one-on-one match. By 2023, playing for La Petite Boule de Naillac in Bergerac, Dordogne, she added a second triplette title alongside Charlène Debord and Valérie Labrousse, beating Haute-Garonne's Aurélie Hontang, Pascale Duchein and Toréa Tairio 13-2 in the final at Perpignan on 18 June - three years before Peyré and Tairio would become doublette partners.

World Championship Silver, Cotonou 2023

Peyré's best result on the international stage came at the 2023 World Championship in Cotonou, Benin, where she partnered Audrey Bandiera in women's doublette. The French pair reached the final but were beaten decisively, 13-2, by Thailand's Sunitra Phuangyoo and Nantawan Fueangsanit, who did not play the final on the tournament's central honor court - an unusual scheduling choice that drew comment from French pétanque media at the time. It remains the closest Peyré has come to a world title, and it forged a doubles partnership with Bandiera that would prove durable: the pair reunited at national level three years later with considerably better results (see below).

Two Silvers in Rome, World Championship 2025

Two years after Cotonou, Peyré returned to the World Championship final stage twice in a single tournament at the 2025 World Championship in Rome, Italy (18-21 September). Partnering Audrey Bandiera again in women's doublette, the pair beat Madagascar 12-11 in an over-two-hour semi-final - Bandiera's own shot sealing the last point - before losing 13-2 in the final to a Thai pair playing as reigning 2022 world champions. In the individual women's tête-à-tête, Peyré went undefeated through the knockout rounds, beating the Netherlands 13-6 in the quarter-final and Belgium 13-2 in the semi-final, before losing the final 13-10 to Thailand's Kantaros Choochuay - three remarkable point-blank hits briefly put her ahead 10-9, but Choochuay closed out the match. The two results made Peyré a three-time World Championship silver medalist, with all three of her world finals lost to Thai opposition.

2026: A Breakthrough Season

The 2026 season was the most productive of Peyré's career. Moving to FIP Fréjus in the Var after a single season at Bormes-les-Mimosas, she reunited with Audrey Bandiera to win the French Women's Doublette Championship at Bergerac on 25-26 July, beating defending champions Nadège Baussian-Protat and Mouna Béji 13-8 in the final, after edging past Anna Maillard and Cindy Peyrot 13-12 in the semi-final. It was a fifth French Championship title for both Bandiera and Peyré individually, though their first won together domestically. Full results are covered in our 2026 French Championships recap.

A month later, Peyré went a step further at the 2026 Mediterranean Games in Taranto, Italy, partnering Toréa Tairio to win the women's doublette gold medal, beating Spain's Célia Abril Cruzado and Alba Valiente Quereda 13-9 in the final. She added a second medal in the individual women's precision shooting event, taking silver after a tight 32-30 final loss to the same Alba Valiente Quereda - Tunisia's Mouna Béji took bronze in that event, having lost 36-37 to Peyré in the semifinal before beating Italy's Sara Ferrera in the classification match. Full results are in our Mediterranean Games recap.

Peyré closed the season with a third French Championship gold of the year, winning the women's tête-à-tête title at Saint-Florentin, Yonne, on 29-30 August 2026, beating Nadine Talvard 13-12 - a third individual national title to go with her 2017 and 2018 crowns, and a measure of redemption after finishing runner-up in the 2025 edition.

She was subsequently named to the French squad for the 2026 European Championships in Loutraki, Greece (8-11 October), added in a revised selection alongside Toréa Tairio to compete in women's precision shooting.

Playing Style

Peyré plays as a specialist shooter (tireuse), the position responsible for knocking opposition boules out of play with direct hits, and her results in individual precision-shooting competition - a World Games-style test of pure accuracy - back that up: three French tête-à-tête titles and a Mediterranean Games precision shooting silver, alongside her doublette and triplette success as part of a team.

Achievements and Honors

• French Champion, Women's Tête-à-Tête (2017, 2018, 2026)
• French Champion, Women's Doublette (2012, with Anaïs Lapoutge; 2026, with Audrey Bandiera)
• French Champion, Women's Triplette (2011, with Anaïs Lapoutge and Pascale Pontac; 2023, with Charlène Debord and Valérie Labrousse)
• French Championship runner-up, Women's Doublette (2024) and Women's Tête-à-Tête (2025)
• World Championship Silver, Women's Doublette (2023, Cotonou), with Audrey Bandiera
• World Championship Silver, Women's Doublette (2025, Rome), with Audrey Bandiera
• World Championship Silver, Women's Tête-à-Tête (2025, Rome)
• Mediterranean Games gold, Women's Doublette (2026, Taranto), with Toréa Tairio
• Mediterranean Games silver, Women's Precision Shooting (2026, Taranto)
• European Champion, Women's Triplette (2012), with Angélique Colombet, Anna Maillard and Marie-Angèle Germain
• European Championship bronze, Women's Triplette (2024), with Charlotte Darodes, Alexia Pinto and Cindy Peyrot
• European Champion, Women's Espoirs Triplette (2008)

Legacy

Nelly Peyré's career illustrates the depth of competition in French women's pétanque: seven French Championship titles across three different formats, three World Championship silver medals, and, in 2026, a Mediterranean Games gold medal to finally match her long list of national and continental honors. Her partnership with Audrey Bandiera - forged in a World Championship final loss in Benin, renewed with a second World Championship final loss in Rome, and rewarded with a French title in between - remains one of the strongest doubles pairings on the current French circuit, with Peyré also named to the French squad for the 2026 European Championships in Loutraki, Greece.