Paleta Tour 2016, a "haute niveau" level men's tournament sponsored by Section Paloise Pelote Basque was a 12 team, four "poule" round robin doubles competition followed by quarter finals, semi-finals, and a final that ran from May 13-July 2, 2016. Paleta Cuir is explained in the modalities page on the right side of the blog. This tournament was played on a 36 meter mur a gauche court. Cuir, for those who do not know, means leather, a very hard leather ball. And that means crash helmets and an entirely different sound when ball hits paleta or wall. Note the difference in striking area between the short bat here and the paleta used for the rubber ball. The game moves at an incredible pace, as you'll see. Source for all information, pelotelive.free.fr. Video source: Olivier Simon via Tout sur la Pelote Basque Youtube site. The videos (full, condensed and selected parts of matches) are all linked from their match pages at pelotelive.free.fr. Make sure to "disactiver" the auto-refresh before watching.
Final:
Dardenne-Chatellier defeated Clain-Lagarde 3-1 (8-10, 10-8, 10-3, 10-4)
Competition site
Final Match video
In addition to the final match video, there are match videos for seven other matches. 8 of 19 matches are covered. Look for the video icon as you scroll through the competition site. For beginners, there is no better introduction to this modality. For experienced fans, it is, quite simply, a feast.
