Basque Pelota Updates (June 2016-April 2017); 2019-

This is a current awareness blog that links to the latest sources of information on Basque Pelota matches and Tournaments. It covers all of both North and South Basque modalities: Pro and amateur. It links to match stories, statistics and video highlights and/or full match videos. NEW!!! JAI ALAI LEAGUE (EREMAN!) SEASON INTRO AND JAI ALAI WOMEN'S WINTER TOUR 2024 (2/22/24)!!!

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Cesta Punta World Tour Internationaux Cesta Punta--St. Jean de Luz (Donibane Lohizune) SLAM, 2 Minor Tournamnents; RECAP of CPPT (iPPARALDE--NORTH BASQUE) SUMMER PARTIDO SEASON


COMPLETE COVERAGE OF FRONTON MEXICO SUMMER SEASON  (INCLUDES LINKS TO 63 FULL MATCH VIDEOS)

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 The Cesta Punta World Tour's premier competition, St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta, played at St.Jean de Luz (1) (2) ran from July 2-August 29, 2019. It began with a play in Tournament to determine a "wild card" avant (front) and arriere (back) who would join the field for a 4 tournament competition that would determine the players in a 5th "SLAM" Tournament, a Champion of Champions Tournament. All Tournaments were played on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Live video coverage, as well as on demand video replays by the French TV Canal + were available at the St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Youtube site.


The schedule in a nutshell (on a single page) (Cestapunta Facebook)

Matches were played in sets, two to 15 points. Tie breaker was to 5. 5 pasas (over serves) were allowed in the course of a match. More than that, as well as any under serve, resulted in a fault.

Cumulative player win-loss records for the entire CPWT Summer Season (St. Jean de Luz, Gant d'Or, and 2 minor tournaments (Mauleon and Hossigor) can be found at the bottom of this post.

 NOTE: TO RETURN TO THIS RECAP FROM ANY OF THE LINKS BELOW, USE THE BACK ARROW.

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SLAM AND TWO MINOR TOURNAMENTS
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INJURY REPORT--FINAL:

 August 22 and 23

Kevin Ithurria: Ithurria suffered an injury in the 2nd set of the 1st SLAM Semi-final at St. Jean de Luz on August 22. After treatment, he continued, but was visibly limping.

On August 23, he played in the Final at Mauleon-Licharre and injured his arm in the 2nd set. He had to retire and was replaced by amateur Yohan Sorozabal. How long he will be out of action is unknown at this time.

August 6

Thibault Basque: Basque slipped attempting a catch in the tie breaker set of the Master 3 Final, appearing to seriously injure his ankle. After some treatment on the floor, he stayed and finished the match. At the post match ceremony, he was noticeably limping as he took the podium. The seriousness of the injury is unknown at this time.

Ekhi Martinez: Ekhi was injured in the warmups and missed his Master 3 Final on August 6. He was replaced by Thibault Basque (see above) on very short notice. The extent of his injury is unknown at this time.

July 4, 2019

Jerome Portet (back) suffered an arm injury in practice before his play-in Final in the Internationaux Cesta Punta, Cesta Punta World Tour match. He missed that match. When he will return is unknown.

Jean Olharan  missed the 1st Semi-Final of Master 2 with Irastorza. Olharan was replaced by Kevin Ithurria. Olharan returned to action in the Gant d'Or Quarter-final at Biarritz on July 31, 2019. He was re-injured (back) in a Tournament at Mauleon on August 9. He missed Master 4. (Latest Source: Jai Alai News Facebook and Cesta Punta St. Jean Facebook)

(Unai) Lekerika, injured during the Jai Alai World Tour, returned to action in the Master 2 2nd Semi-Final.

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A note on Canal + scoring. I will provide Canal + scoring when it is for a complete set.  I will also provide my own full scoring for selected matches. There are three things to be aware of in Canal + scoring.

1. They count balls differently than I. I still haven't figured out how they count.

2. They do not credit a winner for a serve that is intercepted and then immediately converted into a point. It also appears they do not credit a winner for any return of serve immediately ends in a point.

3. They appear to be quite harsh on errors. It appears that most balls a player gets to and touches, but does not return, are either errors or not accounted for either way.

My scoring differs from theirs on each of  these points. I'm not going to judge either theirs or mine. I will attempt to provide you with as much information as possible. My model in scoring combines EITB's method of ball counting with an adaptation of the US Major League Baseball rule for errors: "Would a normal effort on the play be expected to yield a catch?" What is "normal effort" and "expected"? Ah... That's where the judgment comes in.

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August 28  CPWT St. Jean de Luz  Rankings

SLAM

August 29

FINAL

(15-7, 15-3) (30-10) (St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta World Tour Youtube)

Selected linescore (match winners always listed 1st)

Set 1

0-4; 5-5; 11-5; 14-6; 15-7

 Set 2

 3-0; 6-2; 13-2; 15-3

Match article 

 After a slow start, G-I use an 11-1 run in the first set and 9-1 run in the 2nd to destroy O-M and complete the "Ipparalde Double", Gant d'Or (Biarritz) and SLAM (Saint-Jean-de-Luz). 

August 27

2nd Semi-Final

(15-8, 15-14) (30-22) (Canal + via St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Youtube)

Selected linescores (match winners always listed 1st).

Set 1:

4-1; 4-3; 9-7; 12-7; 13-8; 15-8

Set 2:

3-1; 4-2; 4-3; 5-5; 9-7; 11-7; 12-8; 12-12; 13-14; 15-14


T-L, with Lopez continuing to play with a bicep injury that did not allow him to use his forehand, fought valiantly, but to no avail, as G-I moved on to the Final. The match article lauded Tambourindeguy for excellent play. 

August 22

1st Semi-Final

(9-15, 15-13, 5-2) (29-30) (Canal + via St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Youtube)

Selected linescores (match winners always listed 1st).

Set 1

5-5; 6-12; 8-13; 9-15

Set 2

5-3; 5-5; 7-10; (Ithurria injury [video]) 8-10; 9-10; 12-13; 15-13 

Tie Breaker Condensed Linescore (Canal + via St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Pro Tour Youtube (winning team always listed 1st)

2-0; 2-2; 5-2

Tie breaker scoring:

Olha +3 -1; Minvielle +0 -0; Ithurria +1 -2; Lekerika +0 -0

Match article

The match turned on an injury suffered by Ithurria in the middle of Set 2. He went off for treatment and returned, but was severely hampered. Olha overcame  +11 -15 (Canal + scoring) in first 2 sets to dominate the tie breaker. Ithurria's Cinderella season came to an end.

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There were two other CPPT non-St. Jean de Luz Tournaments. There were press accounts but no video.

Mauleon-Licharre Tournament (1) (2) (August 9, 16, 23)

Full calendar (Sam Pelote Facebook)

FINAL

August 23

Olharan-Yeche (Nicolas Eyheragaray) 2
(Kevin) Ithurria (Yohann Sorozabal)-(Mikel) Amigorena 1
(13-15, 15-13, 5-1) (33-29)

Match article (Jai Alai News Facebook)

Ithurria, suffered his second injury in two nights, hurting his arm in the second set and was replaced by Yohan Sorozabal, who had earlier won the "Promesas" Tournament played directly before this match). It was Yeche's 4th championship in his home town Tournament. It was Olharan's 1st. Olharan was +3 in the tie breaker.

Semi-finals

August 16

2nd Semi-Final

(Kevin) Ithurria-(Mikel) Amigorena 2
J. Tambourindeguy-Manex (Urtasun) 1
(12-15, 15-9, 5-4) (32-28)

August 9

1st Semi-final

Olharan-Yeche (Nicolas Eyheragaray) 2
(Jokin) Arbe-Minvielle 0
(15-9, 15-13) (30-22)

Match article for both matches (Jai Alai News Facebook)

Olharan re-injured himself in this match. But apparently he was able to recover, as he played in the final on August 23. 

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Hossegor Tournament (1) (2) (August 7, 14, 21)

FINAL

August 21

(15-14, 15-8) (30-22) (Hossegor Jai Alai Professionel Facebook; includes 12 photos)

Match preview (Hossegor Jai Alai Professionel Facebook)

Semi-Finals

August 14

2nd Semi-final

(Jon) Zulaika-Ekhi 2 Lesbats-Minvielle 1
(15-14, 10-15, 5-3) (30-32) (Source: Hossegor Jai Alai Professionel Facebook--with links to 8 photos)

Match article (Zulaika's Txik-Txak Blog--Juan Ignacio Zulaika)

August 7

1st Semi-Final

Olha-Ibon (Aldazabal) 2 Olharan-(Manex) Urtasun 0
(15-12, 15-14) (30-26) (Hossigor Jai Alai Professionel Facebook)

Match article for both semi-finals (unattributed newspaper (possibly Sud Oest via Hossegor Jai Alai Professionel Facebook)

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Gant d'Or (Golden Glove)

The other major Tournament of the Summer was Gant d'Or, held in July and Early August. It was won by Goikoetxea-Inza, Goikoetxea's 2nd G d'O in succession. He was +19 -0 in the Final. That Tournament was covered in the BLOG HERE (also includes links to full match videos of 2016-2018 Gant d'Or Finals).

Direct link to the Final (August 7)  (Cesta Punta Pro Tour Youtube)

Goikoetxea-Inza 2 Egiguren- (Unai) Lekerika 0
(15-11, 15-11) (30-22)
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FINAL TABLE* FOR SUMMER CESTA PUNTA PRO TOUR

 * Includes all Saint-Jean-de-Luz matches, Hossegor Tournament Semi-finals on August 7, 14, and Final on August 21 and Mauleon-Licharre Semi-finals on August 9, 16 and Final on August 23. This completes the SJDL calendar for 2019. Gant d'Or records have been added for a complete accounting of the CPPT Summer Partido Season 

 Cumulative record (match wins-losses, set w-l [.3 for tie breaker win or loss], Tournaments won). 

Major Tournaments are in bold. Minor Tournaments are not.
P=Play in; M1, M2, M3, M4=Master 1-4; S=SLAM; G=Gant d'Or; H=Hossegor; MA=Mauleon-Letxarre

Most Tournaments won: Goikoetxea 3;  Inza 3

FINAL SUMMER--31 MATCHES

Avants (Fronts)

 Goikoetxea; 7-1; 12--2; M2; S; G

 Olha; 7-3; 13.6--7.3; M1; H (a)
Hormaetxea; 3-2; 4.6--6; P
Egiguren; 3-3; 5.3--7
Olharan; 2-2; 4.3--4.3; MA (a)(b)
(Jon) Zulaika; 1-1; 1.3--3 (a)
Ithurria; 4-5; 8.6--9.6; M4 (b)+
P. Tambourindeguy; 2-3; 4.3--6.3; M3
(Diego) Beaskoetxea; 1-3; 3--5.3
(Aritz) Erkiaga; 1-3; 2.3--6.3
(Jokin) Arbe; 0-1; 0--2 (b)
J. Tambourindeguy; 0-2; 2--2.6 (b)
Lesbats; 0-2; 2--2.6 (a)

+=Ithurria was replaced by Yohan Sorozabal after he injured his arm in 2nd set of the Mauleon-Licharre Tournament on August 23.

Arrieres (Backs)

 Inza; 7-1; 12--2; M2; S; G

 Ibon (Aldazabal); 2-0; 4--0; H (a)
Portet; 1-0; 1.3--1
Yeche (Eyheragaray); 2-1; 3.3--3); MA (b)
Lopez; 3-2; 6.3--4.3; M1
Lekerika; 4-3; 7,6--7.3; M4
T. Basque; 3-3; 6.3--6.3; P
(Mikel) Amigorena; 1-1; 3--1.3 (b)
Minvielle; 4-5; 7.9--11.6; M3 (a) (b)
Ekhi; 2-3; 3.3--7 (a)
Etcheto; 2-4; 4.3--8.3*
Ihitsague; 0-1; 1--1.3
D. Ourthe; 0-1; 0--2
(Manex) Urtasun; 0-3; 2--4.6 (a) (b)
Irastorza; 0-3; 1--5.3

*This includes a loss in the Gant d'Or Tournament on July 22. He was injured on July 20 and didn't play in his July 26 Jai Alai World Tour Match. He is listed as playing in the July 22 match.

(a)=Hossegor Tournament Semi-Finals, August 7, 14, and Final, August 21

(b)=Mauleon-Licharre Tournament Semi-Finals, August 9, 16, and Final on August 23

These are being counted as CPWT matches because they were played in Ipparalde (North Basque), although it is unclear whether that was the organization that sponsored them.

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 COMPLETE COVERAGE OF IPARRALDE (NORTH BASQUE) CESTA PUNTA FALL PRO TOUR  (INCLUDES LINKS TO 10 FULL MATCH VIDEOS)

 COMPLETE COVERAGE OF IPARRALDE (NORTH BASQUE) CESTA PUNTA PRO TOUR/FFPB (FEDERATION FRANCAISE DE PELOTA BASQUE) SPRING TOURNAMENTS (INCLUDES LINKS TO 4 FULL MATCH VIDEOS)

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF JAI ALAI WORLD TOUR  (HEGOALDE--SOUTH BASQUE) SUMMER SEASON (INCLUDES LINKS TO 22 FULL MATCH VIDEOS)

 COMPLETE COVERAGE OF FRONTON MEXICO SUMMER SEASON  (INCLUDES LINKS TO 63 FULL MATCH VIDEOS)
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