Pala--Mundial Individual--Final and 3rd place match--February 10, 2017

Mundial Individual 2017, the premier InnPala singles tournament, began January 14, 2017. It was a single elimination, seeded ladder tournament that involved the entire InnPala roster. The short court tournament was played at Bizkaia Fronton, Bilbo (Bilbao) (1)(2). Two matches were played every weekend. Seeding, from low to high: Brefel and Imanol; Ibai-Perez and Ibargarai (quarter finals); Fusto and Gaubeka (semi-finals). For more on the tournament see the tournament page at InnPala. The final was played on February 10.

Preview article (mundodeportivo.com)

Preview article (Naiz)

The articles note that Fusto is the favorite, seeded in at the semi-final level, having won all 5 of the finals played at Bizkaia (2012-16). He also won in 2009. If he wins this tournament, he will equal Oscar Insausti's record of 7 singles championships. The articles also note that Esteban Gaubeka, last year's runner up, is suffering from shoulder tendinitis, but hopes to be ready to play his first match (seeded in at the semi-final level) on February 4.

Play in Round--January 14, 2014

Second Round--January 21, 2017

Quarter-final Round--January 27, 2017

Semi-final Round--February 3, 2017

Final and 3rd place match--February 10, 2017

Joko (set) score sources: EITB

Final:

1. Ibai Perez defeated Ibargarai 3-0 (10-3, 10-8, 10-6) (30-17)

Match preview article (mundodeportivo.com)

Match article (Deia)

Match article (cardenaser.com)

Full match video (EITB) (match begins at 33 minutes 24 seconds on the video). Note: the 3rd place match (see below) is at the beginning of the video.

Individual joko linescores (winner always listed 1st)

Joko 1: 1-0; 2-0; 3-0; 4-0; 5-0; 5-1; 5-2; 6-2; 7-2; 8-2; 8-3; 9-3; 10-3 (1-0)

Joko 2: 1-0; 1-1; 1-2; 1-3; 1-4; 2-4; 2-5; 3-5; 4-5; 4-6; 4-7; 5-7; 5-8; 6-8; 7-8; 8-8-8; 9-8; 10-8 (2-0)

Joko 3: 0-1; 0-2; 1-2; 2-2; 3-2; 4-2; 5-2; 5-3; 5-4; 6-4; 6-5; 7-5; 8-5; 9-5; 9-6; 10-6 (3-0)

Scoring (EITB:

Ibai Perez +13 -8
Ibargarai   +9  -17

Balls in Play: 268; Ibai Perez 139, Ibargarai 129

Time of the match: 45:16

Ibai Perez won his second major championship in a month by dominating Ibargarai. In this tournament IP won his last 8 consecutive jokos and 9 of the 10 he played to sweep through the last 3 rounds. He has won 15 of his last 17 jokos in tournament play this year. He outplayed Ibargarai in all facets of the match. After an Ibargarai error to open the match, IP announced his intentions by winning the next 3 points with 2 two wall shots and 1 left wall winner. When he is playing as he has in La Liga (full match video of La Liga final available at the link), IP needs little help. Ibargarai helped quite a bit with -17. However he did play some stellar pala in the second joko, which he had completely in hand after winning the 5-8 point (59:30--1:00:46 on the video), the longest and most exciting point of the entire match. It consumed 24 balls in play and featured several great saves by each player, including one seemingly impossible rebote by both. Unfortunately, Ibargarai immediately dissipated the momentum such a point should have provided with a service fault. IP ran out the joko and then the match. An interesting aside. At 50:34 on the video (1-2, 2nd joko) IP broke his bat cleanly in two along the vertical. With half a bat he was able to make one successful return before missing a second.

3rd place match:

Fusto defeated Gaubeka 3-0 (10-4, 10-6, Gaubeka retired with an injured shoulder). (20-10).

Individual joko linescores (winner always listed 1st).

Joko 1: 0-1; 1-1; 2-1; 3-1; 3-2; 4-2; 5-2; 5-3; 6-3; 7-3; 7-4; 8-4; 9-4; 10-4 (1-0)

Joko 2: 0-1; 0-2; 1-2; 1-3; 2-3; 3-3; 4-3; 4-4; 5-4; 6-4; 6-5; 7-5; 8-5; 9-5; 9-6; 10-6. (2-0).

Scoring (EITB):

Fusto +14 -1
Gaubeka +9 -6

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

Table of wins and losses for the 2016-2017 season.

Key: Player; Position (d=delantero (front court), z=zaguero (back court)); match wins-losses; joko (set) wins-losses; winning-losing streak; championships won. Matches that are single partidos will be noted. Table will be according to match winning percentage. 1st tie breaker will be number of wins. 2nd tie breaker will be joko win-loss differential. We begin the season with  La Liga Kutxabank, starting October 29, 2016.

February 10, 2017 (end of Mundial Individual)

Championships:  L=La Liga; MI-Mundial Individual

Gaubeka(d)......7-4.....25-21...-2*....1(L)
Zubiri(d)..........8-6.....30-23...-1*
Fusto(d)............6-6.....23-24..+1
Necol(d)............6-8.....27-31...-1
Landeta(d).......3-7.....17-25....-1

Ibai-Perez(z).....10-3...34-19..+4*....2(L, MI)
Ibargari(z).........7-7....29-27...-1
Brefel(z).............5-5....20-19...-1
Gordon(z)...........5-7....21-27...-3
Imanol(z)............3-7...15-25....-1*

Includes Dec. 30, 2016 independent match: Landeta-Imanol defeated Zuberi--Ibai-Perez 3-1 (10-8, 7-10, 10-9, 10-7) at Bizkaia.

*Does not include the result of Nov.25, 2016 independent match Gaubeka--Ibai-Perez v Zubiri-Imanol. The result is unknown at this time. I will add it when I find it.

Includes Nov. 19, 2016 independent match: Zuberi-Ibargari defeated Necol-Gordon 3-0 (10-8, 10-3, 10-9) at Bizkaia.

 For cumulative accounting of this player table see the InnPala Player win-loss table under the Pala page on the right side of the blog.

Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Gran Fiesta de la Cesta Punta Alavesa

On February 10, 2017 a "Gran Fiesta de la Cesta Punta," sponsored by the Federación Alavesa de Pelota Vasca, was held at Olave, Vitoria-Gasteiz (1)(2). In part it was a "send off" for three young players from Alava (Julien del Rio, Aaron Gonzalez, and Ekhi Martinez), who are turning professional and joining the roster for the new season at Fronton Mexico, scheduled to begin in early March,  The festival consisted of three quiniela matches. The first was a junior match featuring some of the younger boys and girls of the "escuela de Gasteiz Jai Alai." The second featured senior members from the Club Gasteiz Jai Alai, including the ex-professional Zarandona. The third was a 25 point match that featured Mikel Egiguren-Ekhi, Christophe Olha-del Rio, and Aaron-Gotzon Enbil.

Egiguren-Ekhi (blue) won the match: 25
Olha-del Rio (white) 17
Aaron-Enbil  (red) 16

Match article with 9 photos (Jai Alai News Facebook page)

Full match video (periscope.tv) Click on the right arrow inside the circle for the video.

Full match video of the two earlier matches (periscope.tv)

Gasteiz Jai Alai periscope.tv channel

Note that these are not commercial quality videos. There is no scoreboard and it is difficult to follow the scoring of the major match. But the video is of fairly high quality and gives you a chance to see the 3 new professionals that will be debuting at Fronton Mexico.