Pasaka--Oiartsun V. Txapelketa Final

The Oiartsun V. Txapelketa Final was contested at Oiartsun Kontzejupea Arkupe (1--click on video to the left of photo for a more intimate look) (2) on August 3, 2016. The arkupe is in the alcove of a building that dates to the late 17th Century.

Urbieta-Esnal (an ex professional mano player) defeated Nazabal-Zabala (last year's defending champions) 13-1

Note that the back courters are listed first in this modality.

Esnal simply hit the ball too hard, too often for N-Z to handle. Urbieta contributed many excellent rebotes (rebound shots). A very easy victory was the result.

Line score:

8-0; 8-1; 13-1

Full match video (Source: EITB) (Match begins at 12 minutes 7 seconds on the recording). The first twelve minutes are interviews, mostly with a very strong promoter of the sport, Anton Mendizabal.

EITB televised this match because Pasaka has great historical and cultural significance in Basque Pelota. It is one of the ancestor games of all the modalities that exist today. It is a "direct" court game, that is to say, there is no wall. A net separates the two teams. The sport is played with either bare hands or a small glove. This match was played with bare hands. There is no serve. The ball is tossed across the net into play. Tennis is scored the way Pasaka is, and some Basques will tell you that tennis modeled its scoring after Pasaka. 4 points wins a game. Games must be won by 2 points. Service only changes when a team with the 40-30 advantage loses the point and the game reverts to 30-30. The match is played to 13 games. The ball is soft but very heavy (about 235 grams, over 1/2 pound for the game played with the glove--the bare hand modality uses a smaller ball). The evolution of the small glove, begun in the 19th century, has taken Basque Pelota to all the modalities it has today. EITB has a short documentary about early Basque Pelota.

This particular match is difficult to follow because there is no scoreboard for a good deal of it. Another match played as part of  Aste Negusia in Donastia (San Sebastian) in 2013 at Donostiako Trinitate plazako frontoian shows the last few games of a festival match (bare hand, three on each side) with a scoreboard that makes it easy to figure out what is going on. That match can be seen here. (You will recognize the front courter in red. He is Esnal of the final match above, and he hits the ball equally hard in this match).

Watch and enjoy this ancestor game. And enjoy also that it is still taken seriously as part of the culture, though more modern games have the limelight today. Also, that EITB broadcast this match tells us much.

MY ARTICLE:  How these two teams got to this match

Pala--Asta Nagusia and Plentsia Tournaments

Two Pala tournaments concluded on August 27 and 28.

1. Asta Nagusia Tournament played at Bizkaia Fronton (Bilbo (Bilbao))

This was a combination short court Pala and Jai Alai/Cesta Punta (Jai Alai World Tour CTO. singles MPB) tournament played during the week of August 21-28. For the Jai Alai story see this blog post

May 28, 2016:

Final:

Necol-Imanol defeated Fusto-Ibai Perez 3-1 (5-10; 10-8; 10-9; 10-6)

Match article (Deia)

This was a match that consumed 619 balls in play. The third Joko alone consumed 220. Necol was the star of the match.

Full match Video (Source: EITB)

May 26:

Second Semi-final

Fusto--Ibai-Perez defeated Landeta-Brefel 3-2 (8-10, 10-6, 6-10, 10-7, 10-3)

Match article (Deia)

Fusto returned to action after his injury in the Master Kirol Txartela. According to the match article, he was not 100% fit. In the fourth Joko F-I won after trailing 1-4.

May 21:

First Semi-final

Necol-Imanol defeated Gaubeka-Ayerbe 3-1 (10-7, 10-8, 7-10, 10-6)

Match article (Deia)

The pala match is summarized in the last paragraph of the article.

=========================================


2. Plentzia (1) (2)

This tournament was played on August 25 and 27 on a long court. It is unkown as to whether it was a pala larga or pala motza (corta) tournament.

Score source: Diario Vasco cartaleras for August 26 and 28.

August 25, 2016:

Semi-Finals

Gaubeka-Brefel defeated Landeta--Ibai-Perez 3-1 (8-10, 10-6, 10-3, 10-7)

Necol-Ayerbe defeated Zubiri-Imanol 3-1 (5-10, 10-2, 10-5, 10-3)

August 27, 2016:

Final

Gaubecka-Brefel defeated Necol-Ayerbe 3-1 (10-8, 10-6, 7-10, 10-7)

3rd Place

Zuberi-Imanol defeated Landeta--Ibai Perez 3-0 (10-6, 10-5, 10-7)

Main Nue--23rd Coupe de Chasseurs begins

The  23rd Coupe de Chasseurs, an EP 500 Tournament will be held from August 29-October 31, 2016. Matches will take place at Trinquet Garat, Donibane Garazi  (Saint-John-Pied-de-Port)  This is a 50 point match tournament organized by Goizeko Izarra. The tournament will be followed on a match by match basis at the "Main Nue--Recurring 50 point match results page on the right side of this blog (under "Recurring Results"). This post is simply an announcement. We will also provide semi-final and final result information in one of the main blog posts at the end of the tournament.

Brackets (Source: Esku Pilota Facebook page).

Results from 22nd (2015) and 21st (2014) tournaments

The latest match information only will be available at Goizeko Izarra's CdC Tournament Page

August 29, 2016

Mainhaguet*-Amulet defeated Bereterbide*-Benesse* 50-49

This was a play-in match for a final bracket slot in the tournament. See the bracket page above for how this works. As the information on this week's tournament page says, this match got the tournament off to a "flying start." Note that Esku Pilota, as of August 31, had a different score for this match (50-45). We will stay with the GI score until there is a clarification.

According to the brackets, Next Monday, September 5  match should be:

Elgart-Migueltorena* v Ospital-Lucu*

However the match listed at the tournament page is:

Bereterbide*-Migueltorena* v Olcomendy*-Lucu*

Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Jai Alai World Tour--CTO. Individual MPB Quarter and Semi-Finals and change of schedule due to player injuries

The Jai Alai World Tour has moved into its second phase the CTO. Parejas MPB (doubles) and CPO. Indidual MPB championships. At the site you will find scheduled matches, results, match articles, rules of the competition, player pages, and how the player points are determined, among other information.

CPO Individual MPB Tournament. This entire competition was originally scheduled at Bizkaia for August 21 (2 quarter-finals), August 26 (quarter-final winners v Goikoetxea and Egiguren respectively), and a final on August 28. Due to injuries to both Goikoetxea and Egiguren the August 26 matches were postponed. A semi-final was scheduled between the two quarter-final winners on August 28. The rest of this tournament will resume after the end of the CPO Parejas Tournament on September 10, assuming Goikoetxea and Egiguren are fit to play.

This is a short court (36 meters) Jai-Alai/Cesta Punta tournament. The rules are slightly different in that jokos (sets) are played to 12 instead of 15. This tournament was played simultaneously with a Pala Tournament. Matches in each modality were held on August 21 and 28. A pala match was held August 26.

CPO Individual MPB Quarter Finals at Bizkaia Fronton (Bilbo (Bilbao))

August 28, 2016

1st Semi-final

Background article about short court Jai Alai (Deia)

Olharan defeated Hormaextea 2-1 (10-12, 12-10, 5-1)

At 4-8 in the second joko, it looked like Hormaetxea was on his way to an easy victory. He made an error which took the score to 5-8 and opened the door just a crack. Olharan kicked that door down, outscoring Hormaetxea 12-3 to win the match.

Full match video (Source: EITB)

August 21, 2016

Olharan defeated Barandika 2-0 (12-11, 12-9)

Hormaetxea defeated Ohla 2-0 (12-4, 12-9)

Match article for both matches (JAWT)

Match article for both matches (Deia)

Olharan overcame a 2-6 deficit in the first set. In the second set he overcame 0-6 and 4-9 deficits to win.

Selected linescore

1st joko:

2-6; 7-7; 8-8; 9-9; 10-10; 10-11; 12-11

In the second match 6 service faults (4 in the second joko) hurt Olha's cause.

Egiguren injury article (left thigh injury)

Goikoetxea injury article (sprained right ankle injury)

MY ARTICLE: Long court to short court trends in Jai Alai/Cesta Punta, Remonte, and Pala