This short court competition, organized by Euskal Jai Berri Erremonte Fundazioa/La Fundacion Remonte Euskal Jai Berri, was played from July 23 to September 25, 2016. The venues, with the exception of one match at Labrit Fronton, (Pamplona (Iruna)), were towns and villages in Navarra (populations given below and in the complete rundown for the tournament--see the link below--next to town or village name). The competition consisted of two tournaments, both made up of players from the Oriamendi2010 roster. The players were split into two four team divisions. The A Tournament consisted of a single round robin league phase. The second and third place team played in a semi-final. The winner played the first place team in the final. The B Tournament consisted of two semi-finals and a final.
Sources for all match scores, articles, and tables: Euskal Jai Berri and Oriamendi2010 unless otherwise specifically stated. I used Oriemendi2010 because it maintained current tables for the A Tournament league phase.
A Tournament league phase final
Endika-Ion....3-0
Uterga-Etxeberria III....2-1
Ezkurra II-Barrenetxea IV....1-2
Urriza-Aizpuru III....0-3
Note that Endika, a back courter, played this entire tournament in the front court.
In addition to the players listed, Ansa II, Segurola, Zubiri, and Garces played as substitutes.
B Tournament:
Goikoetxea V-Asproz
Eburu-Otano
Barricart-Zaldua
Benat-Martirena
In addition to the players listed, Rodriguez and Labaka played as substitutes.
September 25, 2016 at Zubiri (1)(2) (435)
A Tournament final
Endika-Ion defeated Uterga-Etxeberria III 35-25
The experiment with Endika in the front court worked from beginning to end as E-I were undefeated in the tournament with four wins. The match article praises Endika's performance. He is known as a shot maker in the back court and this was transferred to the front court for this tournament. He executed several types of shots that yielded points for his team. Ion played excellent Remonte in the back court. The result was a surprisingly easy victory over last year's champions.
Correction: The match article noted Endika's great play in the front court in the Navarra Tournament. This indicated my ignorance about Endika's career. In researching the history of the Sagardoaren Txapelketa for the 2017 edition I discovered that Endika had played in the inaugural final (2011) in the front court. Some research in the Oriamendi2010 database showed that records of Endika's matches (going as far back as April 29, 2010) had him in the front court from April of 2010 until October 3, 2013. So his being in the front court in the Navarra tournament was no "experiment." (Added March 3, 2017).
B Tournament final:
Goikoetxea V-Azpiroz defeated Eburu-Otano 35-32
Match articles for both matches (Euskal Jai Berri)
September 23, 2016 at Fronton Toki Alai, Huarte (Uharte) (6776)
A Tournament semi-final
Uterga-Etxeberria III defeated Ezkurra II-Barrenetxea IV 30-23
Selected linescore (winners always listed first)
19-8; 20-15; 24-18; 30-23
Match article (Euskal Jai Berri)
E-B started tentatively and the vastly experienced U-E took advantage for a big lead. E-B played hard during a 7-1 run that got them back in the game, but they never were able to overcome their poor start.
MY ARTICLE--The tournament from start to finish.
