All matches will be played at Mungia, (1)(2) the "Cathedral" of long court Pala (Pala Larga (1)(2)).
Complete tournament information (.pdf format, 12p), including match schedule and partnerships, rules of the tournament, and a listing of past winners going back to 2007. (Source: Munduko Pilota Batzarra).
The players:
Delanteros (Front): Pablo Hernan "Fusto"; Ibon Garate; Esteban Gaubeka; Dan Necol
Zagueros (Back): Iker Gordon; Xabier Ibargarai; Ibai Perez; Inaki Urrutia
Note: Garate won a 2 match play-in v Ander Landeta for the 4th front court position.
InnPala Player pages
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NOTE: PREVIOUS WINNERS SINCE 2007 LISTING HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST
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Pre-Tournament qualifying round--February 22-23 and Jornada (Day) 1, March 1, 2019 ; Jornada 2, March 8 ; Jornada 3, March 15 ; Jornada 4, March 22 ; Jornada 5, March 29; Jornada 6, April 5
Final and 3rd Place Match: April 13
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Tournament preview article (Deia). Also has a feature on Ibon Garate.
Preview article (El Correo)
END OF DAY 5 OF LEAGUE PHASE
Cumulative Table
Player-(match wins-losses: joko w-l, league points)
Delantero (front)
Fusto (4-1; (2-3,3-2,3-2,3-1,3-1); 320)
Gaubeka(2-3; (2-3,3-1,2-3,3-1,2-3); 280)
Necol (3-2; (3-2,1-3,3-1,1-3,3-2); 240)
Necol (3-2; (3-2,1-3,3-1,1-3,3-2); 240)
Garate (1-4; (3-2,2-3,1-3,1-3,1-3); 160)*
Zaguero (back)
Ibai Perez (5-0; (3-2,3-1,3-2,3-1,3-2); 340)
Urrutia (3-2; (3-2,3-2,2-3,3-1,1-3); 260)
Ibargarai (2-3; (2-3,2-3,3-1,1-3,3-1); 260)
Gordon (0-5; (2-3,1-3,1-3,1-3,2-3); 140)*
* Eliminated
The Final began to come into focus, but there is still much to be determined in the last Jornada (Day) of the League phase.
Delanteros (fronts):
Fusto and Gaubeka are in the drivers' seats for Final positions. However, they play each other this week.
Fusto-Urrita v Gaubeka-Ibai Perez
And that leaves an opening, with a major victory (3-0 or 3-1) by either team, for Necol, with a major victory of his own, to earn a place in the Finals.
Necol-Gordon v Garate-Ibargarai
Note that both Gordon and Garate have been eliminated and supposedly have nothing to play for, except their teammates' drive to a possible Final, and their own pride. Also Gordon, in defeat, played a terrific match in Jornada 5, by far his best (see below). Necol and Ibargarai were also superb. Garate, on his day, is capable of playing well against anyone. As for Fusto and Gaubeka, they need to win 1 and 2 jokos (sets) respectively, in order to guarantee at least a tie for a Final position.
Zagueros (backs)
The situation is both more clear and more murky here. Ibai Perez needs to win 1 joko to guarantee at least a tie for a place in the Final. Ibargarai defeated his major rival (Urrutia) 3-1 in Jornada 5 (see below), and in doing so tied him for second position. They both need major victories (preferably 3-0) in put themselves in the best position.
And it is all a testament to the genius of this format. Going into the last match of the League phase, 3/4 of the players are still alive for a place in the Finals. And from a fan point of view, it doesn't get much better than that.
March 29, 2019 (Jornada 5)
Promotion Poster (Mungia Udala Twitter)
Fusto (4-1, 14-9, 320)-Ibargarai (2-3, 11-11, 260) 3
Garate (1-4, 8-14, 160)-Urrutia (3-2, 12-11, 260) 1
(10-3, 5-10, 10-4, 10-7) (35-24)
Joko Linescore (winners always listed first) (EITB)
Joko scoring (EITB)
Fusto +2 -0 Ibargarai +3 -2; Garate +0 -1 Urrutia +1 -4
Balls in play: 59: F 16 I 17; G 10 U 16
Time: about 9:15
F +1 -3 I +1 -3; G +1 -3; U +3 -0
BIP: 75: F 26 I 8; G 14 U 27
Time: about 12:38
J3: 5-0; 5-1; 6-1; 6-3; 9-3; 9-4; 10-4
F +4 -0 I +5 -2; G +2 -0 U +0 -1
BIP: 78: F 23 I 19; G 19 U 17
Time: about 12:32
J4: 0-2; 2-2; 2-3; 4-3; 4-4; 5-4; 5-5; 6-5; 6-6; 7-6; 7-7; 10-7
F +1 -1 I +5 -2; G +3 -1 U +1 -2 (noter: this adds to 9-7)
Balls in play: 88 F 22 I 24; G 21 U 21
Time: about 13:58
Scoring (EITB)
Fusto +8 -4 Ibargarai +14 -9
Garate +6 -5 Urrutia +5 -7
(Note: Scoring adds to 34-24)
BIP: 300
Fusto 87 Ibargarai 68;
Garate 64 Urrutia 81
Fusto 87 Ibargarai 68;
Garate 64 Urrutia 81
Time of match: 48:23
EITB televised both these matches and so we have seen 1/3 of the competition. Thank you EITB. Though in another part of this blog I named Fusto one of my players of the week (link will be good until April 8, after that link here and scroll to March 25-31, 2019), Xabier Ibargarai was actually the player of the match. He is a strong defender who has a great deal of touch and scores beautiful points.
Exhibit 1: J1 (4-2--5-2 point). Ib connects on the only successful rebote (rebound) shot of the match. Whether Pala Larga rebotes are the most difficult in BP (ask a Remonte back) is arguable. That they are difficult is not. That they are even more difficult when trying to execute them off a wall 54 meters away when you play the vast majority of your matches on 36-38 meter courts is clear when you watch. Rebotes on the long court are very difficult. This one saved the point that was in the middle of a 5-0 run that won the first joko.
EITB televised both these matches and so we have seen 1/3 of the competition. Thank you EITB. Though in another part of this blog I named Fusto one of my players of the week (link will be good until April 8, after that link here and scroll to March 25-31, 2019), Xabier Ibargarai was actually the player of the match. He is a strong defender who has a great deal of touch and scores beautiful points.
Exhibit 1: J1 (4-2--5-2 point). Ib connects on the only successful rebote (rebound) shot of the match. Whether Pala Larga rebotes are the most difficult in BP (ask a Remonte back) is arguable. That they are difficult is not. That they are even more difficult when trying to execute them off a wall 54 meters away when you play the vast majority of your matches on 36-38 meter courts is clear when you watch. Rebotes on the long court are very difficult. This one saved the point that was in the middle of a 5-0 run that won the first joko.
Exhibit 2: J2 (2-4--3-4 point). Ib scores on a "drop" shot from the 12 line, about half a gridiron football field away from the wall. This was a looping shot he took something off of. One of the best Pala shots I've seen.
Exhibit 3: J3: (5-1--6-1 point). Ib executes a 2 wall winner from the 10 line.
Exhibit 4: J3: (6-3--7-3 point). Ib executes another 2 wall winner from the 10 line, in answer to a beautiful 2 wall winner by Garate, which had brought G-U back from 6-1 down. A momentum killer if ever there was one.
Exhibit 5: J4: (7-7--8-7 point). Ib executes a two wall winner from near the left wall, at about the 8 line. This in the context of a joko in which G-U fought tenaciously, equalizing 4 times, only to have F-I take the lead again. This time broke them, and F-Ib ran out the joko and match, 10-7, picking up 80 points in the process.
Ibargarai showed everyone how good his offense could be, especially in the "clutch", as he won the recently completed Mundo Individuel Championship Final. In the pairs match, which was almost an elimination match, he put on a master class, scoring half of his team's points in the last two jokos. His position in this competition is tenuous, but, as a defending Champion (along with Fusto), he has a lot of incentive. And if he gets to the Final, I doubt very much that he will disappoint.
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Necol (3-2, 11-11, 240)-Ibai Perez (5-0, 15-8, 340) 3
Gaubeka (2-3, 12-11, 280) Gordon (0-5, 7-15, 140) 2
(3-10, 9-10, 10-2, 10-8, 10-9) (42-39)
Individual Joko Linescores and scoring--see below under "talking linescore".
Individual Joko Linescores and scoring--see below under "talking linescore".
Scoring (EITB):
Necol +20 -13 Ibai Perez +2 -5 (including 1 service ace, 1 fault)
Gaubeka +14 -9 Gordon +7 -11 (including 1 service ace, 5 faults)
Balls in play: 525
Necol 125 Ibai Perez 139
Gaubeka 152 Gordon 109
Time of match: 64:07
Innpala Fronton Facebook: 7 photos
If Ibargarai was the man of the first match, Dan Necol was the man of the second. Strangely quiet in the first two jokos, won by Ga-Go 10-3 and 10-9, he simply took over the match (with the help of some extraordinary defense by the his partner du jour, Ibai Perez), and turned it around. Necol is a powerful forward who loves to hit the pelota hard, but can still be inconsistent (see the number of errors in this match). But he is capable, as he has shown by winning two of his last three major tournaments (1) (2), of capturing "lightning in a bottle" and simply shredding his opposition. In this match, after the first two jokos, his scoreline was +3 -4. His final figures were +20 -13. For the match he accounted, in one way or another, for 33 of the 81 points scored. He has a lethal two wall winner (see footnote #2 above) but in this match he took another arrow out of the quill, an absolutely devastating left wall (ezker-hornan) shot, that yielded 11 winners, including 4 (the last winning the match) in the deciding joko. His fortunes changed, in my opinion, when he made a great save going to his knees while plastered to the left wall near the end of the 2nd Joko. When it was over, his contention for a place in the finals, which looked doomed a half hour before, was anything but.
Innpala Fronton Facebook: 7 photos
If Ibargarai was the man of the first match, Dan Necol was the man of the second. Strangely quiet in the first two jokos, won by Ga-Go 10-3 and 10-9, he simply took over the match (with the help of some extraordinary defense by the his partner du jour, Ibai Perez), and turned it around. Necol is a powerful forward who loves to hit the pelota hard, but can still be inconsistent (see the number of errors in this match). But he is capable, as he has shown by winning two of his last three major tournaments (1) (2), of capturing "lightning in a bottle" and simply shredding his opposition. In this match, after the first two jokos, his scoreline was +3 -4. His final figures were +20 -13. For the match he accounted, in one way or another, for 33 of the 81 points scored. He has a lethal two wall winner (see footnote #2 above) but in this match he took another arrow out of the quill, an absolutely devastating left wall (ezker-hornan) shot, that yielded 11 winners, including 4 (the last winning the match) in the deciding joko. His fortunes changed, in my opinion, when he made a great save going to his knees while plastered to the left wall near the end of the 2nd Joko. When it was over, his contention for a place in the finals, which looked doomed a half hour before, was anything but.
Of course he couldn't have done it without Ibai Perez. Very quietly, he has gone undefeated in this competition, winning with all three partners, compiling a joko record of 15-8. He is the closest thing to a "lock" on a place in the Finals. Only his partner remains unknown. The only one he hasn't played with has been eliminated. So he has won with everyone and defeated everyone already. He is relatively small for a back, but very mobile. And he makes saves which you have already put in the ledger of his opponents. In this match he made a rebote which arguably saved the match, and made 5 excellent saves on the final point, a 24 ball point which was also the longest of the match.
On the other side, Gaubeka had a bit of an "imprecise" match (by his standards) with 9 errors, but also showed his two wall winner to great effect. He also used the deep shot, which has become a staple on the long court. He made probably the best save of the match, going to his right and semi-diving, on the winning point of the 2nd joko..
But the most pleasant surprise of all was Iker Gordon. Gordon, for all practical purposes, has been out of the running for two weeks, has had a poor campaign, and had absolutely nothing to play for except pride. He played magnificently throughout. His +7 -11 is a deceptive measure because 5 of the errors were service faults, a not uncommon feature of this championship (the first match above opened with 3 consecutive faults). We have no statistics to verify the difficulty of serving on the long court, but given the fact that it is so foreign to most of these players, it is not unreasonable to assume that they might need more than 5 matches to get into rhythm with it. When not serving, Gordon was very mobile, playing solid defense, including 2 successful rebotes. He also executed a beautiful "chic-chac" (a long shot that bounces so low on the back wall that it can't be returned) that put his team ahead 7-6 in the final joko. Unfortunately, he was the victim of Necol's winning, perfectly placed left wall shot. It's been that kind of competition for Gordon.
Below is presented, for your entertainment and perhaps edification, a "talking linescore." Comments are inserted at important points in the match. Summary statistics are a very good measure of a player's overall performance, but the talking linescore tells the "when," a crucial and often overlooked part of match analysis.
Match winners are always listed first:
Necol +0 -1 Ibai Perez +0 -1; Gaubeka +4 -1 Gordon +4 -2
Balls in Play: 76: N 15 IP 20; Ga 23 Go 18
Time of Joko: about 9:39
J2: 0-1; 1-1; 2-1 (first lead in the match for N-IP); 2-2; 2-3; 2-4; 3-4 (Ibai Perez makes great save on Gaubeka 2 wall, to no avail); 3-5; 3-6; 4-6 (Gordon 3rd Fault); 4-7; 5-7; 6-7; 7-7 (Ibai Perez winner); 8-7 (Necol Winner); 8-8; 8-9; 9-9 (great Necol save against left wall on his knees); 9-10 (Gaubeka makes 2 great saves, including one on a semi-dive to his right that hits the pelota inches from the ground).
N +3 -3 IP +1 -1; Ga +5 -2 Go +1 -3
BIP: 114: N 30 IP 27; Ga 32 Go 25
Time: about 14:27
J3: 1-0 (Gaubeka 2 wall off the court); 2-0 (Necol 1st left wall); 3-0 (Necol 2 wall); 4-0 (Necol 2 wall after making a nice save); 4-1 (Necol misses 2 wall); 5-1 (Gordon 4th Fault); 6-1 (Necol high and deep pass); 7-1; 7-2; 8-2 (Gordon 5th Fault); 9-2; 10-2 (IP makes nice save and then Necol wins point with a front-side 2 wall)
N +5 -1 IP +0 -0; Ga +1 -2 Go +0 -3
BIP: 68: N 18 IP 20; Ga 21 Go 9
Time: about 9:43
J4: 0-1 (Gaubeka left wall); 1-1 (Necol deep left wall); 2-1 (Gordon 2nd rebote, to no avail); 2-2; 2-3 (Gaubeka 2 wall--23 ball point, 2nd best point of match); 2-4 (Gordon left wall); 2-5; 3-5 (Necol left wall); 4-5 (Necol left wall); 4-6; 5-6; 6-6 (13 ball point, Gaubeka great save, Gaubeka v Necol battle of the 2 wall shots, Necol wins point with front-side 2 wall); 7-6; 7-7; 7-8 (Necol hits 2 wall off court, Ga-Go 2 points from match win); 8-8 (Necol high front to side 2 wall); 9-8 (Gaubeka error); 10-8 (Necol left wall)
N +6 -3 IP +0 -2; Ga +2 -3 Go +1 -1
BIP: 114: N 27 IP 30; Ga 31 Go 26
Time: about 14:45
J5: 0-1 (Necol too high); 1-1 (Gaubeka 2 wall hits chapa); 1-2 (Gaubeka left wall); 1-3 (Gaubeka left wall); 2-3 ( Gaubeka a great save to no avail as he later hits it off the court); 2-4 (Ibai Perez Fault); 3-4; 3-5 (Ibai Perez 2 great saves, to no avail); 4-5; 5-5 (Necol left wall); 6-5 (Necol left wall); 7-5 (Necol left wall); 7-6: (Gordon "chic-chac"--Ibai Perez makes 2 great saves but can't quite get the 3rd); 7-7 (Gaubeka goes deep); 8-7; 9-7 (Gaubeka high off the front and hits above the side wall); 9-8 (Ibai Perez rebote to no avail as Necol hits one too high); 9-9 (Necol too low); 10-9 (both teams save best for last, 24 ball point--longest of match--IP makes 5 excellent deep saves before Necol finishes with an un-returnable left wall).
N +6 -5 IP +1 -1; Ga +2 -1 Go +1 -2
BIP: 153 N 35 IP 42 Ga 45 Go 31
Time: about 15:32
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Table:
Munduko Pilota Batzarra table, with match and joko wins-losses and total match points for all players, as well as Championship points (through Jornada 4 only)
Player-(match wins-losses: joko w-l, points)
Delantero (front)
Fusto (4-1; 14-9; 320)
Gaubeka (2-3; 12-11; 280)
Necol (3-2; 11-11; 240)
Garate (1-4; 8-14; 160)
Zaguero (back)
Ibai Perez (5-0; 15-8; 340)
Urrutia (3-2; 12-11; 260)
Ibargarai (2-3; 11-11; 260)
Gordon (0-5; 7-15; 140)
For an up to date accounting of the win-loss records of the InnPala players, and a cumulative accounting of their rankings, see the "InnPala Players win-loss records and independent matches" Page on the right side of the blog.
For an up to date accounting of the win-loss records of the InnPala players, and a cumulative accounting of their rankings, see the "InnPala Players win-loss records and independent matches" Page on the right side of the blog.
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SCHEDULE FOR THE 6 WEEK ROUND ROBIN LEAGUE PHASE
March 1, 2019:
Gaubeka-Gordon v Garate-Urrutia
Fusto-Ibargarai v Necol-Ibai Perez
March 8:
Garate-Ibargarai v Fusto Urrutia
Gaubeka-Ibai Perez v Necol-Gordon
March 15:
Necol-Ibargarai v Garate-Gordon
Gaubeka-Urrutia v Fusto-Ibai Perez
March 22:
Garate-Gordon v Gaubeka-Urrutia
Fusto-Ibai Perez v Necol-Ibargari
March 29:
Garate-Urrutia v Fusto-Ibargarai
Gaubeka-Gordon v Necol-Ibai Perez
April 5:
Garate-Ibargarai v Necol-Gordon
Gaubeka-Ibai Perez v Fusto-Urrutia
League pairs that will not play together:
Fusto-Gordon
Garate-Ibai Perez
Gaubeka-Ibargarai
Necol-Urrutia
April 13: Final
#1 delantero (front)-#1 zaguero (back) v #2 (d)-#2 (z)
Source: Munduko Pilota Batzarra "dossier"
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Previous Tournament Winners (since 2007)
2017: Fusto-Ibai Perez 3 Gaubeka-Imanol 2 (4-10, 9-10, 10-8, 10-8, 10-8) (43-44) BLOG POSTS THAT COVER ENTIRE TOURNAMENT; Munduko Pilota Batzarra Tournament coverage; video of final point and closing ceremony (EITB); (unfortunately, EITB has removed the full match video).
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Previous Tournament Winners (since 2007)
2007: Urkia-Imanol 45 Gaubeka-Velilla 33 Match article (Naiz)
2008: Fusto-Larrinaga 45 Ziskar II-Galan 35 Match article (Naiz)
2009: Gaubeka-Beldarrain 45 Urkia-Lujan 33 Match article (Naiz)
2010: Ziskar II-Imanol 40 Fusto-Ayerbe 24 Match article (EITB)
2011: No Competition
2012: Gaubeka-Ayerbe 3 Altadill-Lujan 1 (12-8, 6-12, 12-11, 12-8) (42-39)
Match article (InnPala)
2013: Fusto-Larrinaga 3 Gaubeka-Ayerbe 0 (10-8, 10-7, 10-6) Match article (Diario Vasco) Complete Results (InnPala)
2014: Zubiri-Imanol 3 Fusto-Urkijo 2 (3-10, 6-10, 10-6, 10-8, 10-7) (39-41) Match article (Munduko Pilota Batzarra) video of final point (EITB) Complete Results (InnPala)
2015: Fusto-Ibargarai 3 Gaubeka-Ibai Perez 1 (10-8, 10-9, 2-10, 10-8) (32-35) Match article (Munduko Pilota Batzarra)
2016: Fusto-Brefel 3 Gaubeka-Imanol 2 (10-8, 8-10, 10-6, 7-10, 10-7) (45-41) Match article (Deia) BLOG POST (scroll to Pala) (unfortunately, EITB has removed the full match video)
2017: Fusto-Ibai Perez 3 Gaubeka-Imanol 2 (4-10, 9-10, 10-8, 10-8, 10-8) (43-44) BLOG POSTS THAT COVER ENTIRE TOURNAMENT; Munduko Pilota Batzarra Tournament coverage; video of final point and closing ceremony (EITB); (unfortunately, EITB has removed the full match video).
2018: Fusto-Ibargarai 3 Landeta-Gordon 1 (10-9, 9-10, 10-5, 10-8) Munduko Pilota Batzarra Tournament coverage; Full match video (EITB)
Since 2007 in Finals
Fusto (d front) 6-2 (4 in a row from 2015-2018, and 5 of the last 6)
Gaubeka (d front) 2-5
Imanol (z back) 3-2
Ayerbe (z back) 1-2
Larrinaga (z back) 2-0
Ibargarai (z back) 2-0
Urkia (d front) 1-1
Ziskar II (d front) 1-1
Ibai Perez (z back) 1-1
Lujan (z back) 0-2
Belderain (d front) 1-0
Zubiri (d front) 1-0
Brefel (z back) 1-0
Velilla (z back) 0-1
Galan (z back) 0-1
Urkijo (z back) 0-1
Altadill (d front) 0-1
Landeta (d front) 0-1
Gordon (z back) 0-1
