Binakako Txapelketako/Campionato Parejas, the premier doubles competition of the 2016-2017 Mano season, began December 2, 2016. 8 teams compete for the title. The first (league) phase is a double round robin (14 matches). The top 4 finishers will then face off in a single round robin (3 matches). The two winners will play in a final on April 9, 2017.
Asegarce Competition Page
Asegarce League phase table
ASPE League phase table
Wikipedia Competition Page (Castilian)
Full ongoing league phase table (with total points and differential):
Source for all match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated, is 21iguales.com 21iguales.com will also keep an ongoing phase table at its main Parejas site and with every match article.
Match linescores will be provided from match articles when available. Full match linescores can be found at 21iguales.com Twitter feed. Track back to the date and match and follow from beginning to en The feed is also available at the Main site of 21iguales.com while the matches are in progress.
Source for all highlights and full match videos, unless otherwise specifically stated, is EITB.
Week 1; Week 2; Week 3; Week 4; Week 5; Week 6; Week 7; Week 8 ; Week 9 ; Week 10; Week 11; Week 12; Week 13; Week 14--End of the Quarter-final League phase; Semi-Final League--Jornada 1
Table of the 4 teams that advance to the Semi-final League.
Key: Team, match record, point differential, winning-losing streak going into the Semi-final League.
Irribarria-Rezusta: 12-2, +79, +5
Elezkano-Zabeleta 7-7, +41 +1
Oliazola II-Untoria 7-7, +10 +2
Bengoetxea VI-Larunbe 7-7 -12, -1
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Semi-Final League--Jornada 2
March 18, 2017
Labrit, Iruna (Pamplona) (1)(2): Olaizola II-Untoria defeated Elezkano II-Zabaleta 22-15 O-U 1-1 +3 E-Z 0-2 -14
Match articles (analysis and/or linescores and statistics)
21iguales.com
Deia
Asegarce (includes audio interviews with the winners)
Elezkano II injury article (Deia)
O-U broke open a 13-13 match with a 9-2 run to easily defeat E-Z. A look at the scoring statistics shows that this match was about the dominance of Olaizola II. He had about +15. He took over the match as Elezkano's effectiveness waned due to an injured left hand that forced him to leave twice for treatment. Elezkano's injury will prevent him from playing in next week's crucial match v Bengoetxea VI-Larunbe. He will be replaced, as he has two other times during the competition, by Erik Jaka. During the 14th Jornada (see link above) J-Z defeated B-L 22-18 at Tolosa. J-Z must defeat B-L by at least 11 points and hope for a very one-sided victory by Irribarria-Rezusta over Olaizola II-Untoria. Under that scenario I-R would finish the Semi-final League at 3-0, with the other 3 teams all 1-2. Then it would come down to point differential.
Match highlights
Full match video (EITB-Basque)
Full match video (fronton.tv--Castilian) Scroll to "Labrit-Pamplona - 18/03/2017." (Added March 26, 2017).
March 19, 2017
Atano III, Donostia (San Sebastian) (1)(2): Irribarria-Rezusta defeated Bengoetxea VI-Larunbe 22-14
I-R 2-0 +15 B-L 1-1 -4
Match articles (analysis and/or linescores and statistics):
21iguales.com
Deia
Coming into the match, B-L were the only team to have defeated I-R in this competition and they did it twice. Coming out of the match, I-R had defeated every team in the competition. The 22-14 victory was more difficult than it might seem. B-L came roaring back from a 9-3 deficit to equal the score. However, after that, it was all I-R. They had a simple strategy: keep Larunbe as far back as possible. The strategy worked as Larunbe cracked under the pressure. His 7 errors were almost the entire difference in the match. But it is difficult not to sympathize with him. Irribarria's great "stream shovel" underhand blast, high off the front wall and flying all over the South Basque country, has had devastating effect for almost a year now. Few back court players survive it. And as is sometimes the case, the most impressive blast of all was one that he hit way off the court (the point beginning at 9-3 and ending at 9-4--1:25:03--1:25:30 on the video). It wasn't quite as impressive as the error he made May 29, 2016 (1:04:08-1:05:07) in his match against Bengoetxea VI in the Buruz Buruko Txapelketa, where he hit one so high and hard it almost took the roof of the fronton off, an epic Paul Bunyanesque shot, but it was pretty impressive. With the rest of Irribarria's game improving, we will probably see less of these incredible errors. They will be sadly missed, especially by his opponents. I-R's next match means nothing to them and everything to their opponents, Olaizola II-Untoria. I-R will be going after their 8th consecutive victory, which should be more than enough incentive.
Match highlights
Match highlights (21iguales.com) (parts of 8 points, including the final point)
Full match video (match begins at 1 hour, 3 minutes, 25 seconds on the video)
