The 2016-17 professional Mano season began on October 7, 2016 with the first round of the Lau eta erdiko Txapelketa 2016/Campeonato del 4 1/2 de 1a categoría 2016 LEP. M competition. The 1st round quarterfinal league competition took place on Oct. 14-16, 2016. The second round was played on Oct. 21-23. The third and final round was played on Oct. 28-30, 2016
Asegarce Competition Page
The competition has 12 players, in two groups. The opening round of four preliminary matches took place October 7-10, 2016. The four winners (two in each group) move on to a quarter final league, where they join four other seeded players (Urrutikoetxea and Altuna III in Gourp A, Oliazola II and Bengoetxea VI in Group B) in a single round robin quarter-final league. The 1st place finishers in each group will then face the 2nd place finishers in the other group in the semi-finals. Semi-final winners will play in the final on November 27, 2016.
Note: Source for all match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated is 21iquales.com.
Source for all match video, unless otherwise specifically stated, is EITB.
Quarterfinal league third and final round: Note: Final group tables are given below.
Group A:
October 30, 2016
Atano III Fronton, (Donostia (San Sebastian)) (1) (2): Altuna III defeated Irribarria 22-9.
Match article
For the second match in a row Altuna III ended the match with a big run. He wasn't in the desperate straits that he was in against Victor (trailing 12-19 before scoring the last 10 points), but blew open a 7-7 deadlock by outscoring Irribarria 14-1. He finished 2-1, 2nd in Group A and will now face the winner of Group B Oliazola II at this venue on November 13. Irribarria finished the tournament 1-2 in the league phase and 2-2 overall.
Match highlights
Match highlights (21iguales.com)
Full match video (match begins at 1 hour 15 minutes 15 seconds on the video).
October 31, 2016
Santanape Fronton, (Gernika (Guernica)) (1) (2) (3): Urrutikoetxea defeated Victor 22-5.
Match article:
Urrutikoetxea dispatched Victor in a little over 1/2 hour, with the aid of two runs that amounted to 13-2. Urrutikoetxea finished undefeated in league play (3-0) and now advances to face 2nd place Group B finisher Bengoetxea VI November 12 at Iruna (Pamplona). Victor finished the league phase 0-3 and was 1-3 for the tournament.
Match highlights
Group B:
October 28, 2016
Madalensoro Fronton (Oiartzun) (1)(2) Oliazola II defeated Retgi BI 22-6.
Match article:
For the 3rd consecutive match, Retegi BI scored the first point of a match he lost decisively. Oliazola II responded to his deficit by scoring the next 10 and finished the match with a 6 point run. Oliazola II takes a perfect 3-0 league record into his semi-final next week Retegi BI finished the league phase 0-3. To add injury to insult he damaged his left hand in this match.
Final point of the match
Full match video (match begins at 1:02:50 of the video)
October 29, 2016
Labrit Fronton, Iruna (Pamplona) (1) (2) Bengoetxea VI defeated Ezkurdia 22-6.
Match article:
In the only elimination match in the final round, a 14 point Bengoetxea VI run (7-4--21-4) led to a surprisingly easy victory over Ezkurdia. For Ezkurdia, who just a week before lost a 21-16 lead to Olaizola II, it was a sad end to a tournament that had promised much. Bengoetxea VI finished the league phase 2-1 and moves on to the semi-finals, recovering with two dominating victories after losing his own heartbreaker to Oliazola II two weeks before. Ezkurdia finished the league phase 1-2 and was 2-2 overall for the tournament.
Match highlights
Full match video (Fronton.tv) Scroll to Pamplona-Labrit 29/10/2016
Final league table
Group A
Urrutikoetxea...3-0
Altuna III..........2-1
Irribarria...........1-2
Victor................0-3
Group B
Oliazola II.........3-0
Bengoetxea VI..2-1
Ezkurdia............1-2
Retegi BI...........0-3
