The Players:
Player Profiles at Esku Pilota
Group A: Peio Larralde (front); Matthieu Ospital (front); Baptiste Ducassou (back); Bixinto Bilbao (back); Augusti Waltery (front); Ximun Lambert (back); Peio Guichandut (back); Vincent Elgart (front); Julien Etchegary (front); Ion Iturbe (back); and Anton Monce (front)
Last year's finalists: Larralde and Ospital have been directly seeded into the League phase (1st and 2nd seeds)
Group B: Pascal de Ezcurra (back); Laurent Lambert (front); Alexis Inchauspe (front); Mickael Palomes (back); Gregory Aguirre (front); Cedric Lucu (back); Bixente (Vincent) Cubiat (back); Mattin Olcomendy (front); Mickael Darmendrail (front)
de Ezcurra and Lambert have been directly seeded into the League phase (1st and 2nd seeds)
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Previous Championships
Complete coverage of the 2018 Championship was provided by FFPB:
Results
Brief Match Articles and Photos
More detailed articles and selected match videos were provided by Pilota Ttiki. When videos are available they are linked at the bottom of the article.
Beginning January 9 and "suivant" at the bottom of the article until you reach other tournament articles. The tournament ended on February 25 (A) and February 27 (B) (Note that not all articles you will link to are articles about this tournament).
Twenty 2018 FFPB Championnat de France Elite Pro condensed full match videos are available via Pilota Ttiki Youtube. Scroll to or find "Championnat Individuel" or "Liguilla" (without the quotes).
Finals:
Group A: Larralde 40 Ospital 18
Match article and link to full match video
Group B: Iturbe 40 L. Lambert 27
Match article and link to full match video
2017 Tournament complete coverage (match articles and available videos)
Finals:
Group A: Ducassou 40 Ospital 27
Group B: Etchegaray 40 Elgart 21
2016 Full Tournament Results: Final: Larralde 40 Ducassou 22
2015 Full Tournament Results: Final Ducassou 40 Larralde 21 (pelotelive.free.fr)
Play in Round (January 4-7, 2019) Qualification Round Seeded Matches (January 12-14); January 19; January 26
Liguilla: February 2; February 3; February 9; February 11; February 15, February 17
Finals: February 25--Group B; March 3--Group A
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Note: All match videos, unless otherwise specifically stated, are condensed full match videos (usually between 15 and 40 minutes).
Qualification Round (play in)
January 4, 2019
Arcangues (1) (2)
Note: Arcangues is a town of a bit over 3,000 people. It's trinquet is spare but useful, its Main Nue fans proud when the "big boys" come to play. If you watch the below matches closely you will see the players' breaths as they play. According to my Google science knowledge, that means the temperature is a maximum 45 degrees F, (7.2 C, 280.4 K). The next time you go to a ball game in a domed stadium where the temperature outside is 45 but inside you are at a comfortable 68-72, think of the Arcangues Trinquet and how much your comfort costs under that dome. I'll take Arcangues in a sweater and jacket any day of the week :).
Group A: Monce (front) 40 Iturbe (back) 17 (video)
Partial linescore (winner always listed first):
2-7; 7-7; 10-10; 13-13; 20-16; 30-16; 40-17
Iturbe got off to a great start but then Monce used two overwhelming runs (28-9; 10-1) to win easily. By the last 10 points, it looked like Iturbe was completely deflated.
Group A: Front 1-0; Back 0-1
Group B: Darmendrail (front) 40 Olcomendy (front) 37 (video)
Partial linescore (winner always listed first):
11-2; 13-3; 13-13; 20-16; 25-21; 28-28; 30-30; 36-33; 36-36 (29:01); 37-37; 40-37 (30:54)
This was easily the best match of the weekend. Darmendrail opened up throwing all but the kitchen sink at Olcomendy with a 13-3 run. But Olcomendy settled down and slowly achieved one equality after another. Each time Darmendrail took the initiative again. Finally Olcomendy took a 37-36 lead.
Then !!! (times from 36-36--40-37 listed above in linescore.
Darmendrail serves: 2 balls in play; 36-37; D- (mis-hit from close in)
O: 6 bip; 37-37: D+ (passing shot)
D: 1 bip: 38-37: D+ (service ace)
D: 1 bip: 39-37: D+ (service ace)
D: 19 bip: 40-37: D+ (Darmedrail runs 3/4 the length of the court to return an Olcomendy dejada with a high left wall passing shot)
A brilliant finish.
Match articles for both matches (Pelota Ttiki)
Match articles for both matches (FFPB)
January 7, 2019
Trinquet Garat, Donibane Garazi (St. Jean Pied de Port) (1) (2)
Group A: Elgart forfeited his match to Etchegary due to injury.
Group B: Cubiat (back) 40 Lucu (back) 29 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube--condensed full match video)
Partial linescore (winner always listed first)
4-4; 4-10; 15-15; 20-15; 30-19; 40-29
Just as with the Group A match at Arcangues above, the loser of the match got off to a great start. Down 10-4, Cubiat got back in the match with an 16-5 run and then followed with a 10-4 run. The last 10 points were equal, but that was far too little for Lucu to overcome the deficit.
X. Lambert (back) 40 Etchegaray (front) 31 (partie amicale) (video)
Partial linescore:
25-25; 38-25; 40-31
This was a friendly and a chance for both A players to get some work in, Lambert got a chance to prepare for his upcoming match against the winner of the Monce-Guichandut (seeded in to a January 12 match) on January 19. Etchegary got some practice for his January 12 match with the seeded Waltery. They each had their moments but Lambert's 13-0 run was a little better than Etchegary's 6-2 answer. Etchegary tried to put the most positive light he could on the defeat.
"J’ai beaucoup de choses encore à améliorer pour pouvoir gagner lundi. Aujourd’hui je n’ai vraiment pas eu de réussite mais je le prends comme un manque de précision.” He will need all the improvement and precision he can muster against Waltery next week. The 38 year old veteran, who won six consecutive singles titles between 2008-2013, is still a formidable opponent who still possesses one of the most feared serves in Main Nue.
Match articles for both matches (Pilota Ttiki)
Match article for both matches (FFPB)
Upcoming qualification matches.
January 12, 2019:
Hasparren: Group A: Monce (front) v Guichandut (back); Group B: Darmendrail (front) v Aguirre (back).
January 14, 2019
Donibane Garazi (St. Jean Pied de Port): Group A: Etchegary (front) v Waltery (front); Group B: Darmendrail (front) v Aguirre (seeded in at this point) (front).
