The 2016-17 professional Mano season began on October 7, 2016 with the first round of the Lau eta erdiko Txapelketa 2016/Campeonato del 4 1/2 de 1a categoría 2016 LEP. M competition. The 1st round quarterfinal league competition took place on Oct. 14-16, 2016. The second round was played on Oct. 21-23.
Asegarce Competition Page
The competition has 12 players, in two groups. The opening round of four preliminary matches took place October 7-10, 2016. The four winners (two in each group) move on to a quarter final league, where they join four other seeded players (Urrutikoetxea and Altuna III in Gourp A, Oliazola II and Bengoetxea VI in Group B) in a single round robin quarter-final league. The 1st place finishers in each group will then face the 2nd place finishers in the other group in the semi-finals. Semi-final winners will play in the final on November 27, 2016.
Note: Source for all match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated is 21iquales.com.
Source for all match video, unless otherwise specifically stated, is EITB.
Quarterfinal league second round: Note: Current group tables are available at the main 21iguales.com site above, as well as at all match articles. The winners of the first round play against each other in the second round. The losers also play each other.
Group A:
October 21, 2016
Atano III Fronton, Donostia (San Sebastian) (1) (2): Altuna III defeated Victor 22-19
Match article
For the second match in a row Victor couldn't hold on to a large lead. This was a more difficult defeat because he was seemingly in total control at 12-19. Then Altuna III closed the match out with 10 consecutive points. 9 errors contributed to Victor's defeat. He is still mathematically alive in the tournament, but he needs to defeat Urrutikoetxea and also have another match go his way to stay in the competition.
Match highlights
Full match video (match begins at 41 minutes 48 seconds on the video).
October 22, 2016
Bizkaia Fronton, Bilbo (Bilbao) (1) (2): Urrutikoetxea defeated Irribarria 22-11
Match article:
Two six point runs by this competition's defending champion guaranteed him a place in the semi-finals as he improved his record in the quarter-final league to 2-0 with an easy victory over Irribarria. Watch the match and you'll see a master at work, moving Irribarria all over the court. Urrutikoetxea was aided by 8 Irribarria errors.
Match highlights
Full match video (match begins at 1:18:48 on the video).
Group B:
October 22, 2016
Labrit Fronton, Iruna (Pamplona) (1) (2) Oliazola II defeated Ezkurdia 22-21
Match article:
In the best match of the tournament so far, Oliazola II came back from deficits of 13-17 and 16-21 to win by the minimum. It was his second comeback victory in a row and guaranteed him a place in the semi-finals. Earlier Ezkurdia had overcome deficits of 7-2 and 13-8 to put himself in a position to win. Sadly, full match video is unavailable. The match highlights do, however, show the last point, won by a typically brilliant Oliazola II cross court kill shot.
Match highlights (highlights of this match begin at 0:49 on the video)
October 23, 2016
Beotibar Fronton, Tolosa (1) (2) Bengoetxea VI defeated Retegi BI 22-8.
Match article:
For the second week in a row Retegi BI scored the first point of the match and then never came near the lead again. Two 6 point runs by Bengoetxea VI, along with 8 Retegi BI errors, sealed an easy win. Bengoetxea VI will now play Ezkurdia in the 3rd quarter-final league match to determine the 2nd semi-finalist from Group B.
Match highlights
Full match video (Match begins at 49:56 on the video).
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Pala: Iker Gordon joins InnPala roster, replacing the recently retired Mikel Ayerbe--Information about the upcoming La Liga Kutxabank competition.
"La liga kutxabank de pala profesional se inicia este sábado en el Bizkaia de Bilbao," by Igor G. Vico (Deia, Oct.26,2016).
The newspaper story gives details of the upcoming La Liga Kutxabank professional Pala competition, to be played from this Saturday, October 29, 2016 through the final on January 7, 2017. More information about the tournament is available at InnPala .
The article also discusses Iker Gordon, the new professional signed by InnPala to replace the recently retired Mikel Ayerbe. He will partner with Fusto in La Liga Kutxabank.
The newspaper story gives details of the upcoming La Liga Kutxabank professional Pala competition, to be played from this Saturday, October 29, 2016 through the final on January 7, 2017. More information about the tournament is available at InnPala .
The article also discusses Iker Gordon, the new professional signed by InnPala to replace the recently retired Mikel Ayerbe. He will partner with Fusto in La Liga Kutxabank.
Multiple Modalities--North Basque amateur competitions begin.
Amateur competitions for the 2016-17 season began in the North Basque Country in late September. I will check in with selected competitions when match videos are available. Most of the beginning tournaments are regional in nature. Later in the season the Federation Francais de Pelote Basque (FFPB) national (Championnat de France) and other specialty competitions will begin. The seaon will climax with the FPPB Grand Semaine, a week of multiple tournament finals for all age and talent groups, held mostly outdoors on fronton place libres.
The best place to follow all of these competitions is pelotelive.free.fr. Nowhere else that I know of consolidates the ongoing results of as many competitions. No other BP website I know of is as well organized with so much information. PFF has a very powerful query database that allows interested users to query a competition database for any or all of eight different variables. For those of you just getting started with North Basque pelote sports, the best way to start is to query the entire database by "medias". Select "Videos" and "recherche". You will retrieve competitions in 11 different sports, played on three different kinds of courts, by men and women of different age and talent levels, sponsored by multiple agencies. Click on any "voir" to get to a competition and then look for the film icon. MAKE SURE TO "DESACTIVER" the PFF auto-refresh feature (which is used for keeping up with match point by point scoring) when viewing a match. Otherwise the video will stop. In many cases there are links to Youtube sites of origin for these matches, which you may want to investigate, as the Youtube site may have more exhaustive video coverage of the sport than PFF does. In most, but not all PFF cases where video is available, it is available for finals or semi-finals (at the bottom of each competition list). This is the best way to learn these sports.
For those of you who are familiar with these sports, the best way to find out what is going on is to query the same database by saison (2016-2017). Click on "voir" to see the progress of any competition you are interested in. To obtain more information about an individual competition, simply cut and paste the acronym for the organizer into a search engine. If you don't get what you are looking for, search with the acronym plus "pelote" or "voir" the competition in PFF for the full name of the organizer and query that. The organizer will often have results more quickly than they are available at PFF and you will become familiar with the various organizations.
You will also want to bookmark the national organizing agency for Basque Pelote in the North, FFPB, for information about national competitions. At the site you will find a calendar of national competitions that run from January through June, 2017. Most of these competitions will be covered by PFF but this calendar is essential for those who are interested in staying "ahead of the curve". Results for these competitions will be avialable at the FFPB results database, as well as PFF.
At this time there are match videos available for one sport, Xare. They are provided by the Urrunarrak Pelote Youtube site. Urrunarrak is one of the clubs that plays in the Ligue de Pelote du Pays Basque Championnat du Pays Basque 2017 - Xare - 1ère série (or LPPB Resultats and Classements). Search either for "Trinquete / Xare" and Categorie "1ere Serie - 1.Maila".
MY ARTICLE: My first Xare match.
The best place to follow all of these competitions is pelotelive.free.fr. Nowhere else that I know of consolidates the ongoing results of as many competitions. No other BP website I know of is as well organized with so much information. PFF has a very powerful query database that allows interested users to query a competition database for any or all of eight different variables. For those of you just getting started with North Basque pelote sports, the best way to start is to query the entire database by "medias". Select "Videos" and "recherche". You will retrieve competitions in 11 different sports, played on three different kinds of courts, by men and women of different age and talent levels, sponsored by multiple agencies. Click on any "voir" to get to a competition and then look for the film icon. MAKE SURE TO "DESACTIVER" the PFF auto-refresh feature (which is used for keeping up with match point by point scoring) when viewing a match. Otherwise the video will stop. In many cases there are links to Youtube sites of origin for these matches, which you may want to investigate, as the Youtube site may have more exhaustive video coverage of the sport than PFF does. In most, but not all PFF cases where video is available, it is available for finals or semi-finals (at the bottom of each competition list). This is the best way to learn these sports.
For those of you who are familiar with these sports, the best way to find out what is going on is to query the same database by saison (2016-2017). Click on "voir" to see the progress of any competition you are interested in. To obtain more information about an individual competition, simply cut and paste the acronym for the organizer into a search engine. If you don't get what you are looking for, search with the acronym plus "pelote" or "voir" the competition in PFF for the full name of the organizer and query that. The organizer will often have results more quickly than they are available at PFF and you will become familiar with the various organizations.
You will also want to bookmark the national organizing agency for Basque Pelote in the North, FFPB, for information about national competitions. At the site you will find a calendar of national competitions that run from January through June, 2017. Most of these competitions will be covered by PFF but this calendar is essential for those who are interested in staying "ahead of the curve". Results for these competitions will be avialable at the FFPB results database, as well as PFF.
At this time there are match videos available for one sport, Xare. They are provided by the Urrunarrak Pelote Youtube site. Urrunarrak is one of the clubs that plays in the Ligue de Pelote du Pays Basque Championnat du Pays Basque 2017 - Xare - 1ère série (or LPPB Resultats and Classements). Search either for "Trinquete / Xare" and Categorie "1ere Serie - 1.Maila".
MY ARTICLE: My first Xare match.
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Mano--GMGZ Events--III. San Nikolas (San Nicolas) Eskupilota Txapelketa
This is one of a sampling of some regional and special amateur competitions that are themselves a prelude to the national competitions that follow toward the end of this year and through the first half of next year. Link to EEPF and its regional links page or the GMGZ Events Facebook page for competitions in the South.
On October 1, 2016 GMGZ Events, along with other sponsors, brought the final and 3rd place match of this Mano tournament to San Nicolas. I was unable to find any matches in this tournament that were played before the final and third place match.
Source for match information and photos: GMGZ Events Facebook page. Match video: EITB
October 1, 2016:
Frontón Municipal de la Plaza San Nicolás de Algorta (Getxo)(1) (2)
Third place match:
Gordon-Etxebarria (Red) defeated Ugarte-Ziarrusta (Blue) 30-19.
Final:
Arabiourrutia-Aspuru (Blue) defeated Gonzalez-Uribe (Red) 30-14.
Match information and photos
Note that the Facebook page information has the correct finals winners but the wrong colors.
Full match video for both matches: 3rd place match: 0:00-40:37 on the video, final: 40:38-1:18:00
This was yet another example of the various forms that Basque Pelota modalities can take. This was a mur a gauche Mano match with a few twists and ornamentations. First, it was played on the same San Nicolas Arkupe that last June-July's San Nikolas (San Nicolas) Pala Txpelketa Finals were played on. The Arkupe is an alcove to what was originally a municipal building but is today a library. The match looks somewhat like Pasaka without a net but I have been informed that it is Mano and has no relationship to Pasaka. The pilota (called a goxua) is softer than a regulation mano pilota. The ceiling is in play as long as the ball hits the front wall. The floor is made of cobblestones, which introduce some of the complexities of ornamentation that are seen more in Main Nue than Mano. Judging the bounce off of cobblestone is a challenging task, as you will see. Neither match, unfortunately, was particularly competitive (although the third place match was close (20-18) at one point, so the game itself and venue are what is compelling about it. Note that Iker Gordon is also an accomplished amateur Pala player who partnered with Fusto in the 2016 Bizkaia Open.
On October 1, 2016 GMGZ Events, along with other sponsors, brought the final and 3rd place match of this Mano tournament to San Nicolas. I was unable to find any matches in this tournament that were played before the final and third place match.
Source for match information and photos: GMGZ Events Facebook page. Match video: EITB
October 1, 2016:
Frontón Municipal de la Plaza San Nicolás de Algorta (Getxo)(1) (2)
Third place match:
Gordon-Etxebarria (Red) defeated Ugarte-Ziarrusta (Blue) 30-19.
Final:
Arabiourrutia-Aspuru (Blue) defeated Gonzalez-Uribe (Red) 30-14.
Match information and photos
Note that the Facebook page information has the correct finals winners but the wrong colors.
Full match video for both matches: 3rd place match: 0:00-40:37 on the video, final: 40:38-1:18:00
This was yet another example of the various forms that Basque Pelota modalities can take. This was a mur a gauche Mano match with a few twists and ornamentations. First, it was played on the same San Nicolas Arkupe that last June-July's San Nikolas (San Nicolas) Pala Txpelketa Finals were played on. The Arkupe is an alcove to what was originally a municipal building but is today a library. The match looks somewhat like Pasaka without a net but I have been informed that it is Mano and has no relationship to Pasaka. The pilota (called a goxua) is softer than a regulation mano pilota. The ceiling is in play as long as the ball hits the front wall. The floor is made of cobblestones, which introduce some of the complexities of ornamentation that are seen more in Main Nue than Mano. Judging the bounce off of cobblestone is a challenging task, as you will see. Neither match, unfortunately, was particularly competitive (although the third place match was close (20-18) at one point, so the game itself and venue are what is compelling about it. Note that Iker Gordon is also an accomplished amateur Pala player who partnered with Fusto in the 2016 Bizkaia Open.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Mano--GMGZ Events--Eskupilota Txapelketa 4 1/2
The amateur scene in Basque Pelota crackles with activity as the 2016-17 season begins. I will check in with selected competitions when match videos are available. This is just a sampling of some regional and special competitions that are themselves a prelude to the national competitions that follow toward the end of this year and through the first half of next year. Link to EEPF and its regional links page or the GMGZ Events Facebook page for listings of competitions in the South.
GMGZ Events specializes in organizing quinela tournaments and competitions. The form they take is usually three quinela matches with 3 teams or players. The winners of the 3 matches then play in a final. This was a singles tournament. In the matches one player plays a point with another. The winner plays another point. The loser is replaced by the player not participating in the point.
Information, score, and photo sources: GMGZ Facebook page. Full match video source: EITB.
Information about the tournament
October 7, 2016:
Kurtzea Pilotalekua, Galduakao (1) (2): Eskupilota Txapelketa 4 1/2 (played to 11 points). Note that in this form of the game, a toss with a special three sided object determines which two start. Then another toss determines who serves. The player who comes in after a point is won gets the serve.
Full match (all four matches) video: Group A: (0:00-22:21); Group B: (22:22-41:09); Group C: (41:10-58:10); Final: (58:11-1:29:20)
Group A (photos and scores): Santxo (Blue) 11; Elezkano (Red) 5; Uriona (White) 3
Group B (photos and scores): Errandonea II (Blue) 11; A. Beitia (Red) 4; Olaizola III (White) 3
Group C: (photos and scores): P. Labaka (Red) 11; Ojuel (Blue) 6; Urretabizkaia (White) 4
Final: (photos and scores): Santxo (Red) 11; Errandonea II (White) 10; P. Labaka (Blue) 10
The group matches quickly separated the best three players from the rest. The final was as exciting as a match of this nature can be. All three players had a chance to win. Two of them (Santxo and Labaka) slightly miscalculated winning kill shots giving Santxo one more chance. Another kill shot presented itself, and this time he didn't miss.
A final note: Santxo is the same Santxo who played (and won) in last summer's prestigious Antiguoako Txapelketa Amateur final in Donostia (San Sebastian), covered in the blog here.
GMGZ Events specializes in organizing quinela tournaments and competitions. The form they take is usually three quinela matches with 3 teams or players. The winners of the 3 matches then play in a final. This was a singles tournament. In the matches one player plays a point with another. The winner plays another point. The loser is replaced by the player not participating in the point.
Information, score, and photo sources: GMGZ Facebook page. Full match video source: EITB.
Information about the tournament
October 7, 2016:
Kurtzea Pilotalekua, Galduakao (1) (2): Eskupilota Txapelketa 4 1/2 (played to 11 points). Note that in this form of the game, a toss with a special three sided object determines which two start. Then another toss determines who serves. The player who comes in after a point is won gets the serve.
Full match (all four matches) video: Group A: (0:00-22:21); Group B: (22:22-41:09); Group C: (41:10-58:10); Final: (58:11-1:29:20)
Group A (photos and scores): Santxo (Blue) 11; Elezkano (Red) 5; Uriona (White) 3
Group B (photos and scores): Errandonea II (Blue) 11; A. Beitia (Red) 4; Olaizola III (White) 3
Group C: (photos and scores): P. Labaka (Red) 11; Ojuel (Blue) 6; Urretabizkaia (White) 4
Final: (photos and scores): Santxo (Red) 11; Errandonea II (White) 10; P. Labaka (Blue) 10
The group matches quickly separated the best three players from the rest. The final was as exciting as a match of this nature can be. All three players had a chance to win. Two of them (Santxo and Labaka) slightly miscalculated winning kill shots giving Santxo one more chance. Another kill shot presented itself, and this time he didn't miss.
A final note: Santxo is the same Santxo who played (and won) in last summer's prestigious Antiguoako Txapelketa Amateur final in Donostia (San Sebastian), covered in the blog here.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Mano--Lau eta erdiko Txapelketa 2016/Campeonato del 4 1/2 de 1a categoría 2016 LEP. M--Quarterfinal League begins
The 2016-17 professional Mano season began on October 7, 2016 with the first round of the Lau eta erdiko Txapelketa 2016/Campeonato del 4 1/2 de 1a categoría 2016 LEP. M competition. The quarterfinal league competition began Oct. 14-16, 2016.
Asegarce Competition Page
The competition has 12 players, in two groups. The opening round of four preliminary matches took place October 7-10, 2016. The four winners (two in each group) move on to a quarter final league, where they join four other seeded players (Urrutikoetxea and Altuna III in Gourp A, Oliazola II and Bengoetxea VI in Group B) in a single round robin quarter-final league. The 1st place finishers in each group will then face the 2nd place finishers in the other group in the semi-finals. Semi-final winners will play in the final on November 27, 2016.
Note: Source for all match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated is 21iquales.com.
Source for all match video, unless otherwise specifically stated, is EITB.
Quarterfinal league first round: Note: Current group tables are available at the main 21iguales.com site above, as well as at all match articles. The winners of the first round play against each other in the second round. The losers also play each other.
Group A:
October 15, 2016
Etchebarry (1) (2): Irribarria defeated Victor 22-14
Match article
Match article (including match statistics and linescore) (Diario Vasco)
Irribaria only had to make one big comeback in this match, from 4-9. A 7 point run took him to an 11-9 lead. After falling behind again 12-14, he then won the match with a 10-0 run that included 5 service aces.
Match highlights (The IvV highlights begin at 1 minute, 1 second on the video).
October 16, 2016
Astelena Fronton, Eibar (1) (2): Urrutikoetxea defeated Altuna III 22-7
Match article:
Urrutikoetxea began his title defense with an emphatic victory over Altuna III. He was aided by 8 Altuna III errors.
Match highlights
Full match video (match begins at 36:06 on the video).
Group B:
October 14, 2016
Burunda Fronton, Altsasu (Alsasua) (1) (2) (3) Ezkurdia defeated Retegi Bi 22-11
Match article:
Retegi Bi scored the first point of the match. It was his only lead as Ezkurdia scored the next 6 and pulled away from there. 8 Retegi Bi errors aided Ezkuria in the easy victory.
Match highlights
Full match video (fronton.tv) (Scroll to Retegi Bi v Ezkurdia, Alsasua 7/10/2016. Note that the date is incorrect at fronton.tv at present. However you will always be able to find the match by scrolling to the players names or venue. The match is on P. 1 at present. It will move too lower pages eventually. Scroll until you find it.
October 15, 2016
Labrit Fronton, Iruna (Pamplona) (1) (2) Oliazola II defeated Bengoetxea VI 22-19
Match article:
In the most competitive and hard fought match of the round (272 balls in play) Oliazola II came back from deficits of 3-7, 4-8, 11-15, 14-16, and 16-18 to win. He was helped by 10 Bengoetxea VI errors.
Match highlights
Full match video (Match begins at 27:44 on the video).
Asegarce Competition Page
The competition has 12 players, in two groups. The opening round of four preliminary matches took place October 7-10, 2016. The four winners (two in each group) move on to a quarter final league, where they join four other seeded players (Urrutikoetxea and Altuna III in Gourp A, Oliazola II and Bengoetxea VI in Group B) in a single round robin quarter-final league. The 1st place finishers in each group will then face the 2nd place finishers in the other group in the semi-finals. Semi-final winners will play in the final on November 27, 2016.
Note: Source for all match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated is 21iquales.com.
Source for all match video, unless otherwise specifically stated, is EITB.
Quarterfinal league first round: Note: Current group tables are available at the main 21iguales.com site above, as well as at all match articles. The winners of the first round play against each other in the second round. The losers also play each other.
Group A:
October 15, 2016
Etchebarry (1) (2): Irribarria defeated Victor 22-14
Match article
Match article (including match statistics and linescore) (Diario Vasco)
Irribaria only had to make one big comeback in this match, from 4-9. A 7 point run took him to an 11-9 lead. After falling behind again 12-14, he then won the match with a 10-0 run that included 5 service aces.
Match highlights (The IvV highlights begin at 1 minute, 1 second on the video).
October 16, 2016
Astelena Fronton, Eibar (1) (2): Urrutikoetxea defeated Altuna III 22-7
Match article:
Urrutikoetxea began his title defense with an emphatic victory over Altuna III. He was aided by 8 Altuna III errors.
Match highlights
Full match video (match begins at 36:06 on the video).
Group B:
October 14, 2016
Burunda Fronton, Altsasu (Alsasua) (1) (2) (3) Ezkurdia defeated Retegi Bi 22-11
Match article:
Retegi Bi scored the first point of the match. It was his only lead as Ezkurdia scored the next 6 and pulled away from there. 8 Retegi Bi errors aided Ezkuria in the easy victory.
Match highlights
Full match video (fronton.tv) (Scroll to Retegi Bi v Ezkurdia, Alsasua 7/10/2016. Note that the date is incorrect at fronton.tv at present. However you will always be able to find the match by scrolling to the players names or venue. The match is on P. 1 at present. It will move too lower pages eventually. Scroll until you find it.
October 15, 2016
Labrit Fronton, Iruna (Pamplona) (1) (2) Oliazola II defeated Bengoetxea VI 22-19
Match article:
In the most competitive and hard fought match of the round (272 balls in play) Oliazola II came back from deficits of 3-7, 4-8, 11-15, 14-16, and 16-18 to win. He was helped by 10 Bengoetxea VI errors.
Match highlights
Full match video (Match begins at 27:44 on the video).
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Main Nue--Player Rankings--October 15, 2016
Main Nue complete player rankings are available on the player rankings page (Under "Main Nue") on the right side of the main blog page. You can also find how these rankings are calculated there.
Complete Player Rankings as of October 15, 2016. Current through Tournoi de Bidart.
Larralde reclaimed the number 1 ranking as a result of his (along with Guichandut) victory over Ducassou-Ospital at Bidart. The 3-5 positions were unchanged.
Top 5
Larralde
Ducassou
Ospital
Guichandut
Bilbao
Complete Player Rankings as of October 2, 2016. Current through Tournoi de Saint Palais. . (Source: Esku Pilota)
Top 5:
Ducassou
Larralde
Ospital
Guichandut
Bilbao
Complete Player Rankings as of October 15, 2016. Current through Tournoi de Bidart.
Larralde reclaimed the number 1 ranking as a result of his (along with Guichandut) victory over Ducassou-Ospital at Bidart. The 3-5 positions were unchanged.
Top 5
Larralde
Ducassou
Ospital
Guichandut
Bilbao
Complete Player Rankings as of October 2, 2016. Current through Tournoi de Saint Palais. . (Source: Esku Pilota)
Top 5:
Ducassou
Larralde
Ospital
Guichandut
Bilbao
Main Nue--Tournoi de Bidart
Tournoi de Bidart (1) (2), an EP 1000 tournament, was played on October 13 and 15, 2016.
Sources for all scores and stories: Esku Pilota. Source for match video: Esku Pilota Youtube page.
October 13, 2016:
Semi-finals
Larralde-Guichandut defeated Etchegaray-Bilbao 40-19
Ospital-Ducassou defeated Bielle-de Ezcurra 40-18
Match article for both matches
Though the article maintains that B-E played better than the score indicates, a quick look at the decade scores of each match shows that they were decided early and emphatically.
October 15, 2016:
Final
Larralde-Guichandut defeated Ospital-Ducassou 40-32.
Match article, including audio interviews with Larralde and Michael Palomes, and full match video
Full match video: (Esku Pilota Youtube site)
One of the more interesting facets of this match was that it was played on a "half-trinquet," a very small mur a gauche with a drop in side and back dugout. In some ways it was reminiscent of Trophee Atharee, played last May. In fact three of the four contestants in the final were the same (Ospital instead of Etchegaray being the only difference). That tournament was also played on a mur a gauche with a drop in back and side dugout. Watching the two matches emphasizes the small size of the Bidart court. And just as with the Atharee final, having the right side of the court open encourages quite a different game from the typical trinquet venue. This match was closely contested, with L-G always ahead, but O-D able to close to 31-34 before L-G finally finished it off. It featured the best front and back courter in Main Nue, along with arguably the best young front and back courters. Ospital and Guichandut have made great strides recently, and fans can only look forward in anticipation to future matchups, as these four attempt to separate themselves from the rest.
Sources for all scores and stories: Esku Pilota. Source for match video: Esku Pilota Youtube page.
October 13, 2016:
Semi-finals
Larralde-Guichandut defeated Etchegaray-Bilbao 40-19
Ospital-Ducassou defeated Bielle-de Ezcurra 40-18
Match article for both matches
Though the article maintains that B-E played better than the score indicates, a quick look at the decade scores of each match shows that they were decided early and emphatically.
October 15, 2016:
Final
Larralde-Guichandut defeated Ospital-Ducassou 40-32.
Match article, including audio interviews with Larralde and Michael Palomes, and full match video
Full match video: (Esku Pilota Youtube site)
One of the more interesting facets of this match was that it was played on a "half-trinquet," a very small mur a gauche with a drop in side and back dugout. In some ways it was reminiscent of Trophee Atharee, played last May. In fact three of the four contestants in the final were the same (Ospital instead of Etchegaray being the only difference). That tournament was also played on a mur a gauche with a drop in back and side dugout. Watching the two matches emphasizes the small size of the Bidart court. And just as with the Atharee final, having the right side of the court open encourages quite a different game from the typical trinquet venue. This match was closely contested, with L-G always ahead, but O-D able to close to 31-34 before L-G finally finished it off. It featured the best front and back courter in Main Nue, along with arguably the best young front and back courters. Ospital and Guichandut have made great strides recently, and fans can only look forward in anticipation to future matchups, as these four attempt to separate themselves from the rest.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Pala--Mikel Ayerbe retires from InnPala
After a 14 year career in which (according to his InnPala player page) he played in 14 championship matches and won 7, Mikel Ayerbe retired at age 39. He played his final match on Saturday, October 15:
Armintza Fronton, Lemoiz (1) (2): Gaubeka-Ayerbe defeated Zubiri-Imanol 3-2 (10-9; 9-10; 8-10; 10-9; 10-9). Source: Diario Vasco Cartelara, October 17, 2016).
Video highlights (Source: EITB) (added Oct. 20, 2016)
Match article and 11 photos (Source: InnPala Fronton Facebook Page).
"Mikel Aierbek erretiroa hartuko du larunbat honetan" Zaurazko Hitza (October 11, 2016).
InnPala player page
InnPala photo:
Armintza Fronton, Lemoiz (1) (2): Gaubeka-Ayerbe defeated Zubiri-Imanol 3-2 (10-9; 9-10; 8-10; 10-9; 10-9). Source: Diario Vasco Cartelara, October 17, 2016).
Video highlights (Source: EITB) (added Oct. 20, 2016)
Match article and 11 photos (Source: InnPala Fronton Facebook Page).
InnPala player page
InnPala photo:
Friday, October 14, 2016
Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Del Tourneo San Fausto (Durango)
Del Tourneo San Fausto was played at Durango (1)(2) on October 7 and 13, 2016. Sources for scores and photos: Jai Alai News and Jai Alive Facebook pages.
October 7, 2016:
Semi-finals:
Goikoetxea-Inza defeated Olha-Minvielle 35-17
Olharan-Enbil defeated Egiguren-Erkiaga, 35-25
27 Photos: (Source Jai Alive Facebook page)
October 13, 2016:
Final
Goikoetxea-Inza defeated Olharan-Enbil 35-27
Match article and photos (source: Jai Alive Facebook page)
Third place match
Egiguren-Erkiaga defeated Olha-Minvielle, 25-24.
In addition, both Facebook pages linked to recent interviews with Gotzon Enbil (Diario Vasco-Castellano) and Eric Irastorza (shiny-people.com--Francais) respectively.
October 7, 2016:
Semi-finals:
Goikoetxea-Inza defeated Olha-Minvielle 35-17
Olharan-Enbil defeated Egiguren-Erkiaga, 35-25
27 Photos: (Source Jai Alive Facebook page)
October 13, 2016:
Final
Goikoetxea-Inza defeated Olharan-Enbil 35-27
Match article and photos (source: Jai Alive Facebook page)
Third place match
Egiguren-Erkiaga defeated Olha-Minvielle, 25-24.
In addition, both Facebook pages linked to recent interviews with Gotzon Enbil (Diario Vasco-Castellano) and Eric Irastorza (shiny-people.com--Francais) respectively.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)