With the coming of July, Basque Pelota swings into its summer season of partidos and tournaments in all of the main professional modalities. Here is the information I have found. Modalities will be listed in English alphabetical order. This is not necessarily exhaustive, and I will add as I find more. I am planning to cover all of the below competitions and do blog posts and current results for them. Bookmark this post if you wish, for a quick index to all of the action to come this summer. Note: this post does not cover amateur action. That will be covered in a separate post.
Jai Alai/Cesta Punta
Hegoalde (South Basque)
Jai Alai World Tour
The 6th Jai Alai World Tour will consist of:
Two Grand Slams
Gernika--July 13, 20, 27, semis-August 3, FINAL-AUGUST 10
Hondarribia--July 19, 26, August 2, 9, semis-August 16, FINAL-AUGUST 23.
Three Master Series
Markina: 1/4--July 6; 1/2--July 14, FINAL--JULY 16
Lekeitio: 1/2--July 28; FINAL--AUGUST 4
Zumia: 1/4--September 6, 13; 1/2--September 20; FINAL--SEPTEMBER 27
Three other Master Series (Donostia, Urriko, and Miturku) "are still pending."
JAWT Announcement
Complete schedule (.pdf format,9p.)
Players
Several Dania Jai Alai players are scheduled: Diego (Beaskoetxea); Erik (Mendizabal); (Jon) Zulaika; (Zabier) Barandika; Ibon (Aldazabal); (Unai Lekerikabeaskoa) (Lekerika--Leke); (Enaut) Salegi (source: Players page, pamphlet and JAWT)
Articles
Results
Player Rankings:
How Rankings are determined (along with several other rules about JAWT). Rankings information is #8 and #9.
The matches will be played in 2 sets to 15 points. Tie breaker will be to 5. It appears that no illegal (over or under) serves will be allowed. If that is incorrect, I will correct it.
"Todos los sets se jugarán a saque único"
Selected matches will be shown on EITB, the Basque TV network. At present, it is expected that they will be available on demand only. I will let you know when they are available for viewing.
Preview (Deia)
Preview (Mundo Deportivo)
Preview (El Correo)
EITB Interviews with selected players (Basque)
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Ipparalde (North Basque)
Cesta Punta World Tour
St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta
St.Jean de Luz Cesta Punta starts with a Play In Tournament July 2-4,followed by 4 Master Tournaments (each with 2 semi-finals and a final) and a SLAM (champion of champions tournament, based on player rankings). Matches are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from July 2-August 29.
Tournament schedule
On a single page (Cesta Punta St. Jean de Luz Facebook)
Tournament by Tournament
Players:
Dania Jai Alai players scheduled: Diego (Beaskoetxea); (Kevin) Ithurria; (Unai Lekerikabeaskoa) (Lekerika--Leke)
Rankings
The matches will be played in 2 sets to 15 points. Tie breaker will be to 5. Each team is allowed 5 "pasas" (over serves) in a match. The 6th and after, as well as any under serve, will be a fault.
Full match videos of all matches are available live and on demand from Canal +, the French TV network,via St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Youtube
Live (check for times):
On demand:
2. Gant D'or (Biarritz) (Biarritz Jai Alai Facebook events)
I have found no other information available at this time
Tournament runs from July 1-August 7 (Mondays and Wednesdays)
Finally, an excellent place to keep up with the latest Summer Partido (and all year) Cesta Punta developments is Jai Alai News Facebook
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Main Nue:
1. Esku Pilota has a full schedule of 10 Spring/Summer Tournaments that began in May and end in August, highlighted by Masters de Bayonne in late July.
Esku Pilota Summer Calendar Use above address. Click on events for who is playing.
Calendar is in the middle of the page, on the left side.
Esku Pilota Calendar (for all of 2019)
Players
Player rankings
Results
Match articles (Esku Pilota)
Match articles (Pilota Ttiki)
2. Trinquet Berria (Hasparren) hosts a match every Thursday from July 4-September 26. See eskupilota.org for calendar and details
3. Le Garat Lundi. Le Garat, the chathedral of Main Nue, hosts a 50 point match every Monday. It is a "King of the Hill," format, for the most part, with the winners coming back to defend their "crown" the next week.
Information at Goizeko-Izzara
Match articles
Esku Pilota
Pilota Ttiki
Most matches are available on demand at Pilota Ttiki Youtube. They are condensed full match videos.
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Mano:
The Mano Summer season in Hegoalde (South Basque) contains several small tournaments (see the itinerary at):
Baikopilota campeonatos
beginning with "San Fermin." Most but not all of these are "weekend" tournaments with 2 semi-finals and a final.
The Tournaments will also be covered by 21Iguales.com
Players:
Baikopilota
ASPE
Combined rankings (.pdf format, 1p.).
There is also one large Tournament, the VIII Tourneo Bizkaia, which runs from July 21-August 21. It is played in 3 modalities, singles, pairs, and 4 1/2 (singles). It consists of seeded ladder tournaments It is played all over Bizkaia, with the finals at Bilbo (Bilbao).
Baikopilota Announcement
Baikopilota brochure (.pdf format, 2p.) that contains the complete calendar.
The Mano summer is covered exhaustively by EITB. A large selection of matches are available live and on demand at EITB.tv (categorias--->
Deportes-->Pilota Eskuz Profesionalak 2019--->Jaialdiak 2019
or
Programas A-Z--->PQRS---> follow the above path from here.
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Pala Larga
There are some small Summer Tournaments but the big tournament is the Donostia KiroTxartela, with all matches played at Atano III in Donostia (San Sebastian). It is a short court tournament that runs from July 3-August 16. 7 of the InnPala Professionals are in it, as well as several promising amateurs. Professionals are teamed with amateurs. There is also a women's paleta cuero Tournament near the end of the main tournament.
InnPala Announcement
Donastia Kirola Announcement
InnPala Brochure (.pdf format, 11p).
The brochure gives the rules and entire calendar.
InnPala Players
Player rankings and rankings explanation
Scores:
InnPala.com Note: InnPala usually gives only cumulative joko (set) scores. For individual joko point scores, the Diario Vasco Pelota section Cartelera (the day after the matches) is a usually reliable source. You can also check InnPala Twitter or InnPala Fronton Facebook.
EITB usually covers the finals, and perhaps, if we are lucky, the semi-finals of this tournament. Videos are on demand only. They will be announced in the Blog.
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Remonte
There is a steady diet of Summer Remonte at Galarreta, Hernani, where long court Remonte is played by Oriamendi2010 professionals every Thursday and Saturday. It is covered in the blog on a special Star Match page,
There is also one major tournament, the San Fermin Tournament, sponsored by Oriamendi2010, which will be played at Euskal Jai Berri in Huarte.
Oriamendi2010.com Announcement
There is usually EITB coverage of the Final, available on demand. It will be announced in the Blog.
The other major Remonte organization, Fundacion Remonte Euskal Jai Berri, is sponsoring 1 major tournament and a "Circuit" of small tournaments all over Hegoalde (South Basque Country), as well as one in Madrid and one Bayonne (Ipparalde--North Basque Country). These competitions are all on the short court.
The Major Tournament is the XIV Torneo Communidad Foral de Navarra, which is actually a Premier and Promotion Tournament, beginning on July 19 and ending with finals on October 3 and 5, 2019. There will be quarter final League, Semi-finals, and a Final in the Premier League, and the Tournament will be played, at seven different venues in Navarra. The players for the Premier Tournament are listed at the Fundacion Remonte Facebook site.
The "circuit" will mostly consist of triangular tournaments in two groups (all Oriamendi players) in Madrid, Vitoria, Zaragoza, Iruna (Pamplona), Donostia (San Sebastian), Barcelona, Hendaya, Bayonne (Biona), and Soria. Tournaments begin at Labrit, Iruna (Pamplona) on July 12 and continue through October 30.
Announcement of Fundacion Euskal Jai Berri competitions
Oriamendi Players page
Oriamendi Rankings with explanations (monthly rankings back to 2011). Click on Rankings explation is below the rankings.
Both of these competitions are covered at the Euskal Jai Berri web site, with some of the coverage also available at the Oriamendi site. There is little or no available video coverage of these competitions as Navarra TV does not provide on demand video. All will be covered in the blog.
Oriamendi2010 Match articles
Fundacion Remonte Euskal Jai Berri Match articles
If I find out about other Summer competitions, I will let you know. This is quite a feast as it is.
For now, if you are interested in amateur action, I have begun to follow the main (in the sense of match videos--see the bottom of the current results section for your mobile or on the right side of the web blog) action, but the best place to follow the amateur scene in Hegoalde is Manista.com, the legendary and exhaustive Blog produced by Carlos Zuluaga. He's been doing this since 2007, and was one of the inspirations that lead me to the idea of an English language blog. For Ipparalde the place to start is the Federation Francais de Pelota Basque (FFPB). For the official amateur Sports agency in Hegoalde, follow the Euskadiko Euskal Pilota Federakuntza (EEPF).
