THE SPORTS MINUTE Sports news of Thursday, April 9, 2026

Nîmes Olympique

Depres ready to start. On Saturday at 6 p.m., Nîmes Olympique will host Saint-Maur for the 25th matchday of National 2. A crucial meeting for promotion to Ligue 3, between the leader (NO) and the third-placed team (Saint-Maur). Since the beginning of the week, the Nîmes group has been preparing for this match with all their strength. This Thursday, part of the team (especially the defenders) trained indoors. Among those on the field was Clément Depres. The captain and top scorer of Nîmes (seven goals) was one of the key players in the victory over Rousset last week (1-2) with a goal and an assist. Back from a knee injury that kept him out of action for eight matches, the forward only came on as a substitute in Rousset. This time he is physically fit to start the match. The absentees included Othmane Benhamza, who is ill and expected to return on Friday. Najib Bennour and Bissourou Touré were rested due to muscle fatigue. Finally, it was a treatment session for Gino Caoki (rehabilitation phase), Pablo Martinez (right hand injury), and Dramane Diaby. The latter is accumulating injuries and is likely heading towards a season without playing.

Vincent Pires had a short experience in Saint-Maur. If twelve players in the Nîmes squad have passed through clubs in the Paris region, only one has played for Saint-Maur Lusitanos. Vincent Pires wore the green and red shirt during a brief spell in 2017. “I arrived there at the age of 19. It was going well, but it was an hour away from my home and they only spoke Portuguese, including the coach. Although I have roots in this country through my father, I understand a bit but do not speak it. It’s the club where I stayed the shortest”.

OAC

Two matches before the final sprint. There are only five matches left before the championship delivers its verdict on which team from the National 3 H pool will move up to National 2. Currently, Fos-sur-Mer leads with 42 points, ahead of Lyon La Duchère (40 points), Bourgoin-Jallieu (39 points), Marseille (36 points), and OAC, in fifth place (35 points), closing the group. The Fosséenne Entente, the favorite for promotion, is in excellent form with eight wins in the last nine matches. The team from Bouches-du-Rhône will be hard to stop, but their schedule will be extremely demanding as they will face four of the top six teams in the pool (Montpellier, OAC, La Duchère, Bourgoin). In this game, the Cévenols have a slight hope of regaining the lead thanks to a schedule where direct opponents will face each other and only have to face Fos and Marseille from the top 5 in the last matches. For now, the staff prefers to focus on the two upcoming matches against Dijon, then the trip to Fos, before a one-week break.

Cycling

Delettre still in contention at the PDL Tour. On Wednesday, the third stage of the Tour de la région Pays de la Loire took place – 119 kilometers between Avrillé (Maine-et-Loire) and Sainte-Suzanne-et-Saint-Chammes (Mayenne). Well-placed, the Gardian Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies) finished 13th, 0’06” behind the winner, Danish Alexander Kamp (Uno-X Mobility). In the general classification, the Manduel resident is still in the running for the overall victory as he is in 12th place, 0’16” behind the stage winner and leader of the race. On Friday, for the final stage, the riders will cover a 179-kilometer course in Sarthe between Brûlon and Le Mans. Alexandre Delettre will try to replicate last year’s performance, where he finished third in the final stage (beaten in a sprint) and second overall, 0’07” behind Normand Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa B&B Hotels).

AS Sourds de Nîmes

Athletes lacking recognition. On Tuesday, at the Pablo-Neruda center, the sports association of the deaf in Nîmes organized a meeting on the theme of valuing athletes with hearing impairments. High-level athletes were invited to share their experiences. There were Michael Laurent (tennis), a Nîmes native and medalist, Jessica Gagnant (tennis), Maxime Petit and Sylvain Plantey, players for the French deaf volleyball team (coaches of the women’s volleyball team of ASSN), and Mélanie Klinke, a bowler living in Montpellier and a member of the German national team. Each of them shared their struggles in finding sponsors and, most importantly, being recognized as full-fledged athletes. All had participated in the Deaflympics Tokyo 2025, a major international event promoting sports for the deaf. These athletes are not integrated into the Paralympic Games and are somewhat sidelined from major international competitions.