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
Note: All match videos, unless otherwise specifically stated, are condensed full match videos (usually between 15 and 40 minutes).
Qualification Round (January 12-14)
January 12
Both matches: Trinquet Berria, Hasparren--Trinquet (old and new) (1) (2) Hasparren
Match article for both matches (Pilota Ttiki)
Match article for both matches (FFPB)
Match article for January 12, 2019 matches only (FFPB)
Group A: Guichandut (back) 40 Monce (front) 30 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube)
Partial linescore (winner always listed first):
19-19; 27-19; 40-30
After the match, the Guichandut said Monce was a player he feared. Based on the first half of the match, it looked like he had reason to. But in the second half Guichandut slowly tired Monce and won going away. He will next face the seeded X. Lambert (back) on January 19 at Arcangues. Lambert eliminated him last year 40-28.
Group A Front 1-1; Back 1-1
Group B: Aguirre (front) 40 Darmendrail (front) 31 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube)
Partial linescore (winner always listed first):
14-3; 16-9; 19-14; 22-21; 40-31
Aguirre built a huge early lead, a mountain which Darmendrail almost climbed with an 18-8 run. But, as sometimes happens, the energy needed to climb the mountain exhausts the player. Aguirre answered with an 18-10 run of his own. He will next face the seeded Palomes (back) on January 19 at Arcangues.
January 14, 2019
Both matches were played atTrinquet Garat, Donibane Garazi (St. Jean Pied de Port) (1) (2)
Match article for both matches (Pilota Ttiki)
Match article for both matches (FFPB)
Group A:
1. Waltery (front) 40 Etchegaray (front) 30 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube)
2. Info Garazi Youtube (slightly different camera angle, better view of the scoreboard)
Partial linescore (winner always listed first):
6-0; 8-8; 8-16; 12-24; 20-26; 23-30; 40-30
This was the match of the weekend. The 38 year old Waltery with (in his own words, according to the match article), "nothing more to prove", proved once again that he is still one of the premier players in Main Nue. He fought back against, Etchegary, more than 8 years his junior, after taking an early 6-0 lead (4 service aces), weathering a 24-6 Etchegary run, and getting back to 23-30. From there he shut out Etchegary 17-0 with 9 service aces. It was one of the most devastating Main Nue comebacks in many years. Waltery has always had a devastating serve, and when he gets it right, it can turn a match quickly, as it did this one. To see just how devasting, watch the entire 17 point run.
23-30; 40-30 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube)
Waltery will next face the seeded Bilbao (back) on January 25 at Arcangues.
Group B:
Inchauspe (front) 40 Cubiat (back) 15 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube)
Partial linescore (winner always listed first)
15-4; 23-5; 31-15; 40-15
The left-handed Inchauspe completely dominated the proceedings with runs of 15-4, 8-1, and 9-0. He now passes directly to the League phase and will face the winner of the Aguirre-Palomes match (see above).
Group B Front 1-0; Back 0-1
