Main Nue: FFPB CDC Elite Pro par Equipe--Barrage--April 14, 2017

The Main Nue Elite Pro par Equipe (pairs) Championnat de France A and B competition is sponsored by the  Federation Francaise de Pelote Basque (FFPB). The competition began on March 3, 2017 and ends on May 7, 2017. You can follow its progress here (link to "resultats" from the FFPB home  page).  Pelotelive.free.fr also provides A and B coverage. The tournaments have a "poule" phase, a single round robin, followed by a playoff system that is explained below. It turns out not to be quite as byzantine as I thought. :) It is a very interesting way to re-seed a tournament in mid-stream. The B knockout phase (see below) looks to be a very interesting proposition. The A phase could provide a surprise or two as well.

*  not listed on the Esku Pilota player pages at this time.

Groupe A

Peio Larralde-Bixintxo Bilbao; Agusti Waltary-Peio Guichandut; Mathieu Ospital-Baptiste Ducassou; Julien Etchegaray-Vincent Lazcano; Alexis Inchauspe-Anton Amulet; Philippe Bielle-Ximun Lambert

Groupe B:

Laurent.Lambert-Mickael Palomes; Vincent Elgart-Pascal de Ezcurra; Mattin Olcomendy*-Jean-Philippe Bennesse, Antton Monce-Cedric Lucu

Source for all match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated, is pilota-ttiki.com. Thus far, most Pilota Ttiki match articles are incorporated into the Pelotelive.free.fr match pages. I will link to them, for ease of access when they are.

Week 1: March 3-4, 2017  ;  Week 2: March 12-13; Week 3: March 18-19 ; Week 4: March 25, 27, 2017 ; Week5: April 1-2, 2017; Week 6: April 7, 10 2017

April 14, 2017

Barrage

Match preview article

Waltary-Guichandut (Poule A--4) defeated L. Lambert-Palomes (Poule B--1) 40-36

Match article

Match video (35-34--40-36) (Esku Pilota Youtube)

Selected linescore (winning team always listed 1st) (source: match article and, for the final points, match video)

3-3; 7-7; 8-8; 9-9; 17-20; 23-24; 23-28; 28-28; 35-30; 35-35;

Key: server; number of balls in play; score (winner listed first); player + (winner), +a (service ace) - (error) (judgments are mine, yours may be different.
'
L; 3; 35-35; L+
L; 1; 35-36; L+a
L; 18; 36-36; W+ (back dugout)
W; 15; 37-36 G+ (filet)
W; 1; 38-36 W+a
W; 5; 39-36; W+ (filet)
W; 1; 40-36 W+a

Salient scoring statistics: L. Lambert 10 service aces; Waltary 9 service aces.

As befits a great match, this one ended with 7 consecutive winners and some of the finest shot making you'll see. W-G, on the verge of being demoted to the "B" poule tournament, scored the last 5 points of the match with almost perfect shot making. L-P were in the "driver's seat" at 23-28, but a crucial 12-2 run by W-G put them ahead. Then L-P came back, led by a great service game from Lambert. In the end, though, Waltary was too powerful and precise, Guichandut too precise. The victory means that the two semi-finals in each Poule will look like this.

Anglet, April 21, 2017

B: L. Lambert-Palomes (B1) v Monce-Lucu (B4)
A. Ospital-Ducassou  (A1)  v Waltary-Guichandut (A4)

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, April 22, 2017

B. Inchauspe-Amulet (A5) v Elgart-De Ezcurra (B2)
A. Larralde-Bilbao (A2) v Bielle-X. Lambert (A3)

All of the higher seeds have defeated their opponents in the Poule phase. The most intriguing match could be Larralde-Bilbao v Bielle-X. Lambert. B-L have won three in a row and are playing great Main Nue at the moment.

For cumulative records of Main Nue elite professionals see the "Cumulative records of EP players" on the recurring results page on the right side of the blog.

For match videos of other FFPB CdF matches see the FFPB CdF 2016-17 National A and B Videos page on the right side of the blog. Four of Larrald-Bilbao's Poule matches (condensed full match videos, about 1/2 hour apiece) are available.

Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--El Pais Feature Article on Fronton Mexico

El Pais has published a lengthy feature article on the re-opening of Fronton Mexico. The article discusses the history of the fronton, and contains short interviews with ex-pilotaris who played in the "golden age" (about 1930-1960). It also discusses the significance of the re-opening of the fronton. But perhaps the highlight of the piece is the 6 minute 45 second video that accompanies it. The video is built around a "B" match between Aaron-Ituarte and Ochoa-Perez that took place April 1. Google Translate will do a good job for the print story. The video is a case of "a picture being worth a thousand words" and is understandable in any language.

Los guardianes del Frontón México, by Almudena Barragan