Main Nue: Baptiste Ducassou--Juge Arbitre

The Federation Francaise de Pelote Basque (FFPB) held its Amateur Main Nue Individuel Final at Trinquet Moderne, Bayonne (1)(2) on April 23, 2017.

A. S. Eskulari-Lahonce (Dufourcq) (blue)  defeated Aïretik-Mendionde (Bonetbelche) (red) 40-33.

Match article (Pilota Ttiki)

17 photos (FFPB) Scroll to "National A" near the bottom of the page.

For Dufourq this match evened his record against Bonetbelche in amateur finals held in the last two months, as Bonetbelche had won the Ligue de Pelote du Pays Basque Championship on March 26, 40-26.

But there was another interesting aspect to the FFPB final. Look closely at the FFPB photos. One in particular. It is the "Juge Arbitre" for this match, none other than Baptiste Ducassou, the premier back court player in Main Nue at present. It seems that Ducassou, in the heat of the moment in an FFPB Championnat de France Poule match in March, lost his temper at what he thought was a poor call and let the Juge Arbitre know it in no uncertain terms. He apologized later.

Instead of a punitive reaction such as a suspension, which is invoked regularly in other "major league" sports, the FFPB required him to be Juge Arbitre for this match.

Now that is a sports story we don't hear about very often :)

Pala: Bizkaia Open Begins

The 2017 Bizkaia Open short court tournament, a "bridge" between the recently completed winter Pala season and summer tournaments and festivals, began on April 22, 2017 and will end with a Pro-Am and Amateur final on June 17. Though it is known by the name of the venue for some of the matches, including the final, this tournament is played at venues all over the South Basque Country. This year a North Basque Country venue is also scheduled for the competition. The venues are: Bilbao, Armintza, Balmaseda, Biarritz, Gallarta, Sopela, Mungia, Zalla, and Zierbena. This is a single round robin tournament with 6 teams, comprising the entire InnPala roster, plus two promising amateurs, who are paired with last year's champions. The teams:

* Amateur

Necol-Martin Figeac*
Mikel Sanz*-Imanol

Fusto-Ibargarai

Zubiri-Ibai Perez
Gaubeka-Gordon
Landeta-Brefel

Mikel Sanz played in last year's tournament. The other amateur player in that tournament was Iker Gordon, now an InnPala professional. Martin Figeac won the Federation Francais de Pelote Basque 2016 Championat de France Junior (under 22) pala corta competition. Match video for that Final match is available via pelotelive.free.fr (Make sure to click on "desactiver" under the video in order to disable PFF's auto refresh. Otherwise the video will stop). Figeac is in the back court on the red team. He was also runner up in the 2016 IX Mondial Pelota Basque Espoirs Fronton 36m under 22 amateur Pala Corta competition played in  October 2016 at Biarritz. There is also full match video for that Final. Figeac is in the back court on the red team.

Standings for the Bizkia Open will be determined entirely by number of jokos (sets) won.

At the end of the league phase, a two match semi final (1 v 4 and 2 v 3) will be played to determine the finalists. There will be a Final for the amateur competition that accompanies this competition, followed by the Final, on June 17.

Tournament preview article (Deia)

Tournament preview article (mundodeportivo.com)

Complete recap of the 2016 Bizkaia Open, including all match scores, tournament table, and link to full match video of final match.

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April 22, 2017

Jornada 1

Sources for match scores: Innpala Twitter feed, Diario Vasco Cartelera (April 23), and Innpala Fronton Facebook page. Note that for the the second match below, DV had the scores correct but the winners reversed.

Bizkaia, Bilbo (Bilbao) (1)(2)

Fusto-Ibargarai defeated Gaubeka-Gordon 3-0 (10-5, 10-7, 10-5)

Zubiri-Ibai Perez defeated Mikel Sanz*-Imanol 3-2 (7-10, 7-10, 10-6, 10-4, 10-4)

As of this posting, I have found no match articles or videos for these matches.

Bizkaia Open Table

Key: Team; Joko Record, Team Points, Match Record

Fusto-Ibargarai..................(3-0); 3; 1-0
Zubiri-Ibai Perez ..............(3-2); 3- 1-0
Mikel Sanz*-Imanol......... (2-3); 2; 0-1
Gaubeka-Gordon ..............(0-3); 0; 0-1
Necol-Martin Figeac*
Landeta-Brefel

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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.

April 22, 2017

Championships:  L=La Liga; MI-Mundial Individual; MP-Mundial Parejas

Fusto(d)............13-8....46-37..+4.......1(MP)
Gaubeka(d)......11-9....43-38...-4*....1(L)
Zubiri(d)...........9-8.....34-31..+1*
Necol(d)...........11-12...46-49.+1
Landeta(d)........6-13...31-46..+1

Ibai-Perez(z).....17-6....59-37..+1*....3(L, MI, MP)
Ibargari(z)..........9-8....35-31...+2
Brefel(z).............9-8....35-32...-1
Imanol(z)...........8-12...38-44...-1*
Gordon(z)..........7-15...32-53...-1

*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.

Mano: Eskuz Banakako Txapelketa-Campeonato Manomanista De Lep.M--1/8 Finals

Eskuz Banakako Txapelketa-Campeonato Manomanista De Lep.M, the premier professional Mano singles championship competition, began on April 14, 2017 and will end on May 28, 2017. It is a seeded ladder knockout tournament consisting of 4 1/16 round play in matches, followed by seeded 1/8 and Quarter-finals. Quarter final winners will play a Semi-final and Semi-final winners will play in the final. A third place match will be played on May 21, 2017.

Players seeded in at the 1/8 level: Artola, Rezusta, Olaizola II, and Ezkurdia.
Players seeded in at the Quarter-final level: Irribarria (defending champion), Altuna III, Bengoetxea VI, and Urrutikoetxea.

Asegarce Competition page  (choose any year back to 1999 next to the "seleciona la temporada") for complete score recap of every tournament).

ASPE Competition page

21iguales.com Competition page

21iguales Twitter feed live scoring page

List of previous winners going back to 1940 (Asegarce)

Available final match videos

1948 (Gallestegi 22 Atano III 6--highlights only) ;

1992 (Galarza III 22 Retegi II 12--added April 27, 2017) ; 1993 (Retegi II 22 Galarza III 19) ; 1995 (Beloki 22 Errandonea 15); 1997 (Arretxe 22 Elkoro 18)

2000 (Eugi 22 Beloki 13) ; 2001 (Beloki 22 Eugi 8) ; 2002 (Barriola 22 Beloki 3) ; 2003 (Patxi Ruiz 22 Olaizola II 7) ;  2004 (Mtz. de Irujo 22 Xala 12) : 2005 (Olaizola II 22 Mtz. de Irujo 18) ; 2006  (Mtz. de Irujo 22 Olaizola II 17) ; 2007 (Olaizola II 22 Barriola 10) ; 2008 (Bengoetxea VI 22 Barriola 11) ; 2009 (Mtz. de Irujo 22 Olaizola II 12)

2010 (Mtz. de Irujo 22 Xala 13--1:18:45) 2011 (Xala 22 Olaizola II 19) ; 2012 (Olaizola II 22 Mtz. de Irujo 7) ;  2013 (Olaizola II 22 Mtz. de Irujo 7) ; 2014 (Mtz. de Irujo 22 Retegi BI 9--1:22:38) ;  2015 (Urrutikoetxea 22 Olaizola II 19) ; 2016 (Irribarria 22 Urrutikoetxea 13)

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1/16 Finals

Source for all match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated, is 21iguales.com. Source for all match video (highlights and full match video) unless otherwise specifically stated, is EITB).

1/8 finals

April 21,2017

A.  Bergara (1)(2)(3): Rezusta defeated Victor 22-19

Match article with statistics and scoring

Until this match no back court player had won in this tournament. Rezusta, seeded in at the 1/8 level, was the last back court man in the tournament, and, at 2-8 it looked as if he too would be dispatched. But he did not panic and slowly worked his way back into the match. Halfway through he was still down 6-10. But at 6-11 he broke through with a 9-1 run to take the initiative. A 7-4 Victor run tied the score at 19, but then two contrasting Rezusta winners (short and very long) following a Victor error sealed the victory. It was Rezusta's 10th consecutive victory, 9 in the Mundial Parejas and this one. His next opponent is Altuna III.

Match highlights

Full match video (EITB--Basque) (match begins at 35 minutes 5 seconds on the video)

Full match video (fronton.tv--Castilian) (scroll to "Bergara - 21/04/2017").

April 22, 2017

B. Labrit, Iruna (Pamplona) (1)(2): Olaizola II defeated Mendizabal III 22-5

Match article wth statistics and scoring

Mendizabal III won the first point of the match, but a 6-0 run by Olaizola II at the beginning and an 11-0 run at the end led to a very easy victory (the match took barely over 1/2 hour). Olaizola (+19 -1) played a nearly perfect match. His next opponent is Bengoetxea VI.

Match higlights

Full match video (match begins at 51:38 on the video)

April 23, 2017

C. Ogueta, Vitoria-Gasteiz (1)(2): Ezkurdia defeated Retegi BI 22-11

Match article with statistics and scoring

Ezkurdia used 4-0 runs at the beginning and in the middle, and a 6-0 run at the end to finish Retegi BI's tournament. Retegi BI  re-injured his shoulder (see match highlights) but was able to continue. Ezkurdia's  next opponent is Urrutikoetxea.

Match highlights

Full match video (match begins at 1:20:19 on the video)

April 24, 2017 

D. Zumaia (1)(2): Artola defeated Laso 22-13.

Match article with statistics and scoring

Artola dominated most of the match, using 7-1 and 13-1 runs to lead to what should have been an easy demolition of his young opponent. However, Laso did not go without a fight, with an 8-0 run to take the score from 20-5 to 20-13. Alas, it was too little, too late. 9 errors (according to 21iguales.com) hurt his cause. Artola's next opponent is defending champion Irribarria.

Match highlights

Match highlights (21iguales.com) (parts or all of 7 selected points)>

There was no full match video for this match.