Main Nue--FFPB Championnat de France Pro Individuel--Qualification Round Seeded Matches--January 19, 2019

The 2019 FFPB (Federation Francais de Pelote Basque) Championnat de France Pro Individuel Tournament began on January 4, and will end on March 3, 2019. For the third consecutive year, there are two competitions,  Group A and Group B. 21 players are involved. FFPB has provided a "dossier" (.pdf format, 7p.) explaining how the tournament works and who the players in each group are. This is a seeded ladder knock out tournament with qualification and league rounds, leading to the final.

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)

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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).


January 19, 2019

Arcangues (1)(2)

Group A

X. Lambert (back) 40 Guichandut (back) 37 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube)

Selected linescore (winner always listed first)

11-6; 21-6; 26-16; 31-22; 34-34; 35-35; 40-37
35-35

Lambert was a great shot maker at the beginning of this match and jumped  out to a huge 15 point lead at mid-match. From there Guichandut took over with a 29-14 run to reach equality. But, as often happens, the energy used up in the comeback was exhausting and an error by Guichandut led to a 5-2 finish and victory for Lambert. He now faces Baptiste Ducassou, the best player in the modality at the moment. It should be an interesting confrontation between two back court players. Lambert has no illusions. :

“Mon objectif c’était de bien figurer encore en tête à tête. Je crois qu’en gagnant contre Peio j’ai fait mon job. Contre Baptiste, vu la forme qu’il a en ce moment, ça va être compliqué."

Loosely translated (by Google):

"My goal was to still be in the Tournament. I think that by winning against Peio I did my job. Against Baptiste, given the form he has right now, it's going to be complicated. "

Group B

Palomes (back) 40 Aguirre (front) 31 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube)

Selected linescore: (winner always listed first)

25-25: 40-31

The game was very close, according to the match article, until the last decade, when Palomes took it over.

Match article for both matches (Pilota Ttiki)

Match article for both matches (FFPB)

Group B: Back 1-1; Front 1-1

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The next Qualification matches will take place January 25, 2019 at Arcangues

Group A:

Waltery (front) v Bilbao (back) (seeded in at this point)

X. Lambert (b) v Ducassou (b) (seeded in at this point)

Mano--Binakako Txapelketako/Campionato Parejas--2018-2019--Week 9

Binakako Txapelketako/Campionato Parejas, the premier doubles competition of the 2018-2019 Mano season, began November 23, 2018. 8 teams will compete for the title. The first (league) phase is a double round robin (14 matches). The top 4 finishers will face off in a single round robin (3 matches). The two winners will play in a final on April 7, 2019.

Source for all match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated, is 21iguales.com.  21iguales.com will also keep an ongoing phase table at its main Parejas site.

This table is the most up to date of any I've found.

Match linescores will be provided from match articles when available. Full match linescores can be found at 21iguales.com Twitter feed.  Track back to the date and match and follow from beginning to end. The feed is also available at the Main site of 21iguales.com while the matches are in progress.
Source for all highlights and full match videos, unless otherwise specifically stated, is EITB.

At present, EITB is providing all highlights, in chronological order:

We begin at Week 7 as that was when the 2019 calendar year began. Coverage of the first six weeks is available at 21Iguales.com, and the Baiko Pilota  (formerly Asegarce and ASPE websites. Full match video coverage of all available matches can be found at EITB.

For all available full match videos

"buscar" (search--top right side of page): "binakako" (without the quotes). Look for "2019 Binakako Txapelketa." Matches are usually the second or first match on the video.

Full match videos of earlier finals going back to 2000:

 "buscar" "Binakako Txapelketako finalak" (without the quotes)

Selected full match videos before 2000:

"buscar" "Gure bideoteka" (without the quotes) and scroll until you find them.

For complete print and video coverage of the 2016-17 competition 

Links to all matches available (by week).

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Week 7; Week 8; Week 9; Week 10; Week 11; Week 12; Week 13; Week 14; Semi-final Round 1; Semi-final Round 2; Semi-final Round 3;

Final

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Week 9

The rich got richer and the poor got poorer as the table broke further into a two tier affair. The top three teams all won. The 4th place team lost but still managed to keep their heads above water and hold on to a two game lead for the last semi-final slot.

January 18, 2019

Mungia (1) (2)

Ezkurdia-L. Galarza (3-6 -13) 22 Laso (substituting for Urrutikoetxea 
[left hand injury])-Aretxabaleta (2-7 -43) 18 (EITB: match begins 49:23) (Basque)

Full match video: Fronton TV: (Castilian)

Final point (EITB)

Match article (incl. balls in play, linescore, scoring) (21Iguales)

Two teams who seemingly had little but pride left to play for thoroughly entertained the Mungia fans (who filled the fronton to the rafters--temporary seating was installed at the 12 line of this long court "Cathedral of Pala" and it was filled as well). They were treated to a very hard fought (closest of any of the weekend's matches) battle (553 balls in play, almost 75 minutes of play). L-A broke out to 8-3 and 13-7 leads, but then E-G fought back to equality at 13. The scores were equal at 15 and 16 before L-A took their final lead at 17-16. Then E-G spurted ahead 20-17 and were able to close the match out. There were an equal number of winners and errors (20). Laso showed promise with 10 winners but also inconsistency with 7 errors. It was his 2nd match as a substitute, having been brought in for the injured Artola and partnering with Marriezkarrena II in a December 29 loss to Elezkano II -Rezusta. He will replace Urrutikoetxea again next week against the team he substituted for.

January 19, 2019

Labrit, Iruna (Pamplona) (1)(2)

Elezkano II-Rezusta (7-2 +47) 22 Artola-Mariezkurrena II (5-4 +2) 14

Highlights (EITB--1st half of highlights)

Highlights (21Iguales Youtube--11 selected points, including the winning point)

Match article (including. balls in play, linescore, scoring)

This was the highlight match of the week, with A-M having a possible chance to tie for the lead in the table. Interestingly, 600 balls were played in a little over an hour. From 4-3, E-R led most of the way, with 3 points spurts (4-4--7-4; 12-11--15-11; 16-13--19-13; and 19-14--22-14). E-R played a more solid, fundamental match, Elezkano's 3 errors to Artola's 8 and Rezusta's 2 errors to Mariezkurrena II's 6. That, in essence, was the difference in the match. Rezusta has played in the last 3 Championship finals (with Elezkano II last year, winning with Irribarria in 2017, and with Martinez de Irujo in his final match (scroll to "mano"). He has played with three partners who were very different in terms of speed, power, and shot making ability. All he does is anchor an airtight defense.

So far in this year's league phase, here are his error totals. 3,1,1,0,3,1,2,5,2. That's 2 per game. 2! If he isn't the best defender on the circuit, I don't know who is.

January 19, 2019

Bizkaia, Bilbo (Bilbao) (1)(2)

Oliazola II-Albisu (7-2 +35) 22 Altuna III-Martija (3-6 -31) 9  (EITB--match begins at 48:00)

Highlights (EITB--2nd half of highlights)

Match article (including. balls in play, linescore, scoring)

This was a surprisingly difficult victory for O-A, as the 31 points consumed 570 balls in play The difference in this match was 39 year old master Aimar Oliazola. He was +15 -1. That he can still produce those numbers is phenomenal. He has played in 7 championships in this competition and won 3, last in 2016. He is still, in my opinion, among the best three front court players in the sport. He is looking dangerous. As for the match, well, A-M scored the first point and then were buried under a 9-0 run that took the drama out of it. But if you watch the match, you will see several long, hotly contested points, showing that these players, in addition to having hands of iron, are very good at what they do. With the win, O-A remained in a tie for first at the top of the table with Elezkano II-Rezusta, but 12 points in arrears in the differential column.

January 20, 2019

Astelena, Eibar (1)(2)

Irribaria-Zabaleta (6-3 +40) 22 Bengoetxea VI-Imaz (3-6 -37) 6 (EITB--match begins at 1:04:12)

Highlights (EITB)

Match article (incl. balls in play, linescore, scoring)

This was the most lopsided match of the weekend. B-I took a 2-0 lead and then scored 4 more points in the match. They were dispatched in less than 40 minutes. Irribarria led the way at +10 -2. Bengoetxea VI had a quiet match. And Imaz' 7 errors did not help. Zabaleta played tight defense (2 errors) and complemented Irribarria well. I-Z, though third in the table, are second in point differential.

In the next round the 4 leaders will face the 4 tail enders, so it would seem the gulf between the two will get larger. But one never knows.