This is a current awareness blog that links to the latest sources of information on Basque Pelota matches and Tournaments. It covers all of both North and South Basque modalities: Pro and amateur. It links to match stories, statistics and video highlights and/or full match videos. NEW!!! JAI ALAI LEAGUE (EREMAN!) SEASON INTRO AND JAI ALAI WOMEN'S WINTER TOUR 2024 (2/22/24)!!!

Monday, March 27, 2017

Mano--Semi-Final League---Binakako Txapelketako/Campionato Parejas--Semi-Final League--Jornada 3

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 7Week 8 ; Week 9 ; Week 10;  Week 11Week 12Week 13Week 14--End of the Quarter-final League phaseSemi-Final League--Jornada 1; Semi-Final League--Jornada 2

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 3

March 25, 2017

Labrit, Iruna (Pamplona) (1)(2): Bengoetxea VI-Larunbe defeated Jaka (substituting for Elezkano II)-Zabaleta 22-17  
B-L 2-1 +1 E-Z 0-3 -19

Match articles (analysis and/or linescores and statistics)

21iguales.com

Deia

Diario Vasco

EITB Interview with Danel Elezkano regarding his hand injury

This match was similar to B-L's victory over Olaizola II-Untoria in the first semi-final match 2 weeks ago. Again, Bengoetxea VI took a long time to "come to the party." But when he did, basically taking over the second half of the match, J-Z had no chance. They needed to hold B-L to under 11 points in order to have any chance at a finals berth. Once B-L reached that total, J-Z completely collapsed. Jaka, who substituted for the injured Elezkano II (see the above interview to see the hand injury), also was beaten up in this match. He ran his shoulder into the left wall twice (one of those collisions can be seen in the match highlights) and hit if full on once. He finished the match. His team was finished for this competition. All in all 10-16 became 22-17. And Bengoetxea VI finished with +15. On April 9, 2017, B-L will meet Irribarria-Rezusta for the championship. This will be their fourth meeting. B-L have won two, but I-R won convincingly in last week's Semi-Final League match.

Match highlights

Full match video (EITB--Basque) (match begins at 38 minutes 45 seconds on the video.

Full match video (fronton.tv--Castilian) (Scroll to "Labrit-Pamplona - 25/03/2017")

March 26, 2017

Bizkaia, Bilbo (Bilbao) (1)(2): Irribarria-Rezusta defeated Olaizola II-Untoria 22-18
I-R 3-0 +19  O-U 1-2 -1

Match articles (analysis and/or linescores and statistics):

21iguales.com

Deia

mundodeportivo.com

I-R needed to score 11 points to guarantee a place in the final. They set about achieving that goal relentlessly, scoring the first 5 points of the match and reaching their goal with an 11-3 lead. The only road to the final for O-U was to win the match. Down 17-11 and led by brilliant play by Oliazola II, O-U stormed back into the match with a 7-0 run. Serving with all the momentum and 4 points away from an improbable victory, the next point was epic. It consumed 45 balls in play and lasted 2 minutes (1:57:00--1:59:00 on the video). On the 25th ball of the rally (1:57:59), Olaizola II had an easy dejada down the left side because Irribarria was off the court from his retrieval of the previous ball and Rezusta, though coming up, was still behind the four line and far from the left wall. Whether Oliazola II wasn't aware of where his opponents were or had already committed to a different shot, the shot he chose was high and almost exactly to where Rezusta was standing. The point then went on for another 20 balls before an attempted cross court shot by Olaizola II went off the court. 19-17 became 18-18 and, more importantly, the serve and the ball were lost. I-R closed the match out from there, helped by two more Olaizola II errors of aggression. Of course, without his stellar play earlier, O-U would never have come close to pulling off such a great victory. The last 12 points of the match were scintillating.

Match Highlights

Match highlights (21iguales.com) (parts of 18 points, including the final point)

Full match video (match begins at 1:06:56 on the video)

Pala--2017 Mundo Parejas--Jornada 6

Pre-Tournament qualifying round--February 17-18 ; Jornada 1: February 24, 2017 ; Jornada 2: March 3, 2017 (J2 links to full match video of both matches); Jornada 3 and 4 Jornada 5: March 17, 2017 ; Jornada 6: March 24, 2017Final and 3rd Place Match: April 1, 2017 (Final and 3rd place links to full match videos of both matches).

Note: All explanatory information about the tournament can be found in the Pre-Tournament qualifying round--February 17-18 link above.

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Note: Source for all article links, unless otherwise specifically stated, is Munduko Pilota Batzarra (World Pilota Council). Usually MPB match articles are presented in both Basque and Castilian, using the same link. The articles appear first in Basque, and then below that in Castilian.

Individual joko scores source: InnPala Twitter feed

Jornada 6: March 24, 2017

Note: I have been unable to find individual joko scores for either Jornada 6 match. If I find them, I will copy them in.

1. Necol-Imanol  defeated  Landeta-Ibai Perez 3-2

2. Fusto-Brefel defeated Gaubeka-Gordon 3-2

Match article

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Necol and Brefel both won, but not decisively enough after last week's disasters. They were both eliminated. The final, next Saturday, April 1, will be:

Gaubeka-Imanol v Fusto- Ibai Perez.

There will also be a 3rd place match:

Necol-Brefel v Landeta-Gordon

None of these matchups took place during the League phase. Three of the four finalists last year are in this year's final. Ibai Perez is the only one who was not. He will be going for his 3rd tournament championship in 3 attempts this season (he won La Liga Kutxabank and Mundial Individual). Except for Ibai Perez, this will be a classic long court matchup. It should be a great match.

Final League Table:

Key: Player, W-win, L-loss, Joko Scores, Tournament points, Match record

Delanteros (Front Court)

Gaubeka (3-0, 0-3, 3-0, 3-2, 3-0, 2-3), 400 pts, 4-2
Fusto   (3-0, 3-0, 0-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-2), 380 pts, 4-2
Necol   (0-3, 3-0, 3-0, 3-2, 0-3, 3-2), 320 pts, 4-2
Landeta (0-3, 0-3, 0-3, 2-3, 1-3, 2-3), 100 pts, 0-6

Zagueros (Back Court)

Imanol     (3-0, 3-0, 0-3, 2-3, 3-0, 3-2), 400pts, 4-2
Ibai Perez (3-0, 0-3, 3-0, 3-2, 3-1, 2-3), 380pts, 4-2
Brefel     (0-3, 3-0, 3-0, 3-2, 1-3, 3-2), 340pts, 4-2
Gordon     (0-3, 0-3, 0-3, 2-3, 0-3, 2-3),  80pts. 0-6

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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.

March 24, 2017

Championships:  L=La Liga; MI-Mundial Individual

Gaubeka(d)......11-6....39-29...-1*....1(L)
Fusto(d)...........11-8....40-35..+2
Zubiri(d)...........8-8.....31-29...-3*
Necol(d)..........10-11...41-44..+1
Landeta(d)........5-13...28-44...-6

Ibai-Perez(z).....15-5....51-30...-1*....2(L, MI)
Brefel(z).............9-7....33-29..+1
Ibargari(z)..........8-8....32-31...+1
Imanol(z)...........7-10...31-36..+2*
Gordon(z)..........6-14...29-48...-7

*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.

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.

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Pre-Tournament qualifying round--February 17-18 ; Jornada 1: February 24, 2017 ; Jornada 2: March 3, 2017 (J2 links to full match video of both matches); Jornada 3 and 4 Jornada 5: March 17, 2017 ; Jornada 6: March 24, 2017Final and 3rd Place Match: April 1, 2017 (Final and 3rd place links to full match videos of both matches).

Note: All explanatory information about the tournament can be found in the Pre-Tournament qualifying round--February 17-18 link above.