LA MINUTE SPORT Sports news for this Thursday, January 19

As every day from Monday to Friday, discover the basics of Gard sports news in a few details.

Nimes Olympia

Lawn work. Since Nîmes moved to the Olympique Antonins stadium, everyone unanimously says that the lawn is not there. Even if the latter was worse against Metz, it is not worthy of Ligue 2 because of the addition of sand. So president Rani Assaf called in Idverde, the company that installed the grass. Work will start from Monday. In front of the South stand, where the gladiators are installed, the lawn will be removed and boards will be installed in the entire 16-meter wide area. Other parts of the field are affected. Everything should be finished by Wednesday. Because three days later, the crocodiles host Niort for the 20th day of the championship on Saturday, January 28 at 19:00.

Fomba and Said are back. After training yesterday at the Costières stadium, this morning’s session on the back ground of La Bastide lasted for two hours. In addition to the three goalkeepers (Maraval, Dias and Nazih), there were 18 outfield players, including youngsters Wesley N’Gakoutou, Marius Zampa and Ilian Boudache. Also, Nice’s attacking midfielder Paul Wade (22) is still on trial. Lamine Fomba, who was ill yesterday, has recovered from knee pain, as has Rafiki Saeed. Several players trained separately with Alexandre Duclaux, the physical trainer responsible for athletics: Malik Tchokounte, Jens Thomasen and Ronny Labonne. On the other hand, Moussa Koné has joined the infirmary along with Mahamadou Doucouré, who has a hamstring injury.

The latest on the transfer window can be found in our article published this afternoon: NÎMES OLYMPIQUE A midfielder approaches, exit tickets for Fomba and Benrahou

USAM

Rebichon and Gallego were not extended. USAM is currently preparing its workforce for the upcoming season. The club management spoke with several players. Among them we find Benjamin Gallego and Julien Rebicho out of contract at the end of this season. The two players were told their contracts would not be renewed next season after president David Tebib also met with Michaël Guigou and Jérôme Chauvet. This is a real blow for two team leaders who have only known USAM in their professional careers. Captain Julien Rebichon (34) since 2007 Usamiste and Gallego (34) since 2010. It’s hard to wait for a new starting point in January. On the part of the management and the coach, the goal is to rely more on a rejuvenated workforce for next season. Both are offered a mission at the club, but it doesn’t match their expectations…

Tennis

Bonzi’s feat. Benjamin Bonzi of Nimes qualified for the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his singles career. Gardois, who knocked out the Italian Bellucci in the first round of the Australian Open, won the Spanish Carreno Busta (No. 14) last night. But it all started badly for the Frenchman, who lost the first two sets 4-6, 4-6. In the third set, Benjamin Bonzi (48^e world) reversed the trend by winning the tie-break 7-6 (7-5). If the fourth set was only a formality for the French (6-1), the last round was a tough fight and Bonzi won 7-6 (10-4). Nîmes achieves a feat by overturning a match that started badly against 15^e world player. His adventure continues at the Australian Open, where in the third round he will face fellow Australian Alex de Minaur, who defeated France’s Adrian Mannarino in the second round. In case of another victory, Benjamin Bonzi will face the winner of Dimitrov (Bulgaria) – Djokovic (Serbia) clash in the next round.

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