Friday 30th March, Beasain
22:00 (CEST) OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA v URRUTIKOETXEA – IBAI ZABALA Promocion Pairs Semi Final
Followed by SARALEGI – PENAGARIKANO v OLAETXEA – ZABALETA
Sunday 1st April, Logrono
17:00 (CEST) RETEGI BI – LADIS GALARZA v IDOATE – PENAGARIKANO
Followed by XALA – LASKURAIN v TITIN III – MERINO II Pairs Championship Semi Final
To watch, go to http://www.eitb.tv, https://www.eitb.eus/es/television/etb-sat/ or https://www.eitb.eus/es/deportes/deporte-en-directo/
As pelota’s top exponents arrived at the final weekend of round robin matches, there were four pairs vying for two places. Pre-tournament favourites Juan Martinez de Irujo and Abel Barriola, Xala and Laskurain, Berasaluze VIII and Albisu, and Bengoetxea VI and Apraiz all had a theoretical chance of making it into third or fourth behind Olaizola II and Beroiz, and Titin III and Merino II who were home and dry. Given the closeness of affairs in the middle of the table, it is little wonder than emotions ran high.
Irujo and Barriola knew that if they lost to Berasaluze and Albisu on Saturday, they would have to rely on Bengoetxea and Apraiz beating Xala and Laskurain on Sunday to stand any chance. Thanks perhaps largely to Albisu, they were forced to sweat it out as the young defender played with poise and style to shade Barriola, thus taking Irujo largely out of the game. The pre-tournament favourites lost 22-12. Berasaluze also rose to the occasion, riding on the crest of Albisu’s wave on his way to eleven winners in open play. Irujo’s errors outnumbered his scoring shots as the Asegarce pair seized every chance that came to them. The pairs were tied at 9-9 but from that juncture, it was all Berasaluze and Albisu. Irujo and Barriola’s demise in this championship has been something of a shock. It almost seemed a forgone conclusion in the opening weeks that they would reach not only the semi-finals but the final itself. How are the mighty fallen.
The lifeline was nowhere to be seen for Irujo and Barriola on Sunday as Xala and Laskurain took a nail biting 22-20 win over Bengoetxea VI and Apraiz in Eibar. This meant that they themselves qualified at the expense both Irujo and Barriola and Bengoetxea and Apraiz. This result also gave Berasaluze and Albisu their official green light. The game was an excellent one, in which the eventual winners led 20-16 before being pegged back to level terms at 20-20. Bengoetxea did everything he could in his bid for qualification and played with great verve, scoring twelve winners to Xala’s nine. Luckily for the Manomanista champion, Laskurain held sway over Apraiz, who was once again inconsistent in defence.
The final match of the qualifying stages was utterly inconsequential, as second placed Titin III and Merino II played Arretxe II and Begino in Tolosa. Amazingly, the underdogs pulled a 22-18 win out of the bag against the Riojan pair, who had surely let their collective foot off the gas. This result means that Arretxe and Begino escape the ignominy of last place and finish in seventh, one place above Aritz Lasa and Zubieta, or whichever pair represented them in any given week.
|
|
JUG. |
GAN. |
PERD. |
|
1 |
OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ |
14 |
14 |
|
2 |
TITIN III – MERINO II |
14 |
8 |
|
3 |
BERASALUZE VIII – ALBISU |
14 |
8 |
|
4 |
XALA – LASKURAIN |
14 |
7 |
|
5 |
MTZ de IRUJO – BARRIOLA |
14 |
7 |
|
6 |
BENGOETXEA VI – APRAIZ |
14 |
6 |
|
7 |
ARRETXE II – BEGINO |
14 |
3 |
|
8 |
ARITZ LASA – ZUBIETA |
14 |
3 |
The semi-finals begin this weekend. On Saturday, Berasaluze VIII and Albisu try to put a halt to the run of Olaizola II and Beroiz in Bilabo, while Titin III and Merino II play Xala and Laskurain at home in Logrono on Sunday.
Irujo has little to smile about
Image: mine
Friday 23rd March, Urretxu
OLAIZOLA II – MENDIZABAL II* beat ARITZ LASA – PENAGARIKANO 22-17
Before the 2012 Pairs Championship began, any commentator you care to mention had Aimar Olaizola and Mikel Beroiz down as the favourites alongside Juan Martinez de Irujo and Abel Barriola. While Irujo and Barriola have faltered as the tournament has progressed, losing half their matches, Olaizola and Beroiz have been staggering. Right from their opening win in Sestao over Berasaluze VIII and Albisu, they have looked unbeatable, and so they have since proved in winning an unprecedented fourteen from fourteen on their way to the semi finals. The next best pair, Titin III and Merino II has won only eight from fourteen. Many of their matches have been extremely one sided; they have never been pushed closer than 22-18 and finished with a points difference of +131. The next most efficient team was Berasaluze VIII-Albisu on +36. Every time they were threatened, they summoned from somewhere an extra gear which nobody else could match. Cold, clinical, spectacular.
Olaizola and Beroiz’s domination
| Week | Location | Opponents | Score |
| 1 | Sestao | Berasaluze VIII-Albisu | 22-10 |
| 2 | Tolosa | Arretxe II-Begino | 22-5 |
| 3 | Bilbao | Titin III-Merino II | 22-15 |
| 4 | Pamplona | Bengoetxea VI-Apraiz | 22-9 |
| 5 | Bilbao | Martinez de Irujo-Barriola | 22-15 |
| 6 | Hendaye | Xala-Laskurain | 22-17 |
| 7 | Pamplona | Aritz Lasa-Pascual* | 14-9* |
| 8 | Barcelona | Berasaluze VIII-Albisu | 22-10 |
| 9 | Tolosa | Arretxe II-Begino | 22-11 |
| 10 | Bilbao | Gonzalez*-Barriola | 22-18 |
| 11 | Logrono | Titin III-Merino II | 22-16 |
| 12 | Pamplona | Bengoetxea VI-Apraiz | 22-12 |
| 13 | Vitoria-Gasteiz | Xala-Laskurain | 22-13 |
| 14 | Urretxu | Aritz Lasa-Penagarikano* | 22-17 |
Key to their success so far has been the unbreakable purple patch of Aimar Olaizola. The great forward has lost only two matches from his last thirty and has obliterated the best in the game time and time again with his brutal strength and tactical mastery. When the ball goes to his left hand and he has room to play with out wide, the best his rivals can do is to pray that he misses, and he misses very seldom indeed. Allied to Olaizola’s wealth of experience and big match mentality has been Beroiz, the anchor from Huarte. It is easy to forget that the defender is only 22 years old, so impressive is his command at the back of the fronton. His accuracy and relentlessness wear his opponents down, his long range hitting is superb and his head is as balanced as they come.
For this, their last game in the round robin phase, Beroiz was replaced by Oier Mendizabal, with whom Aimar won the Pairs title in 2008. Even with Mendizabal, whose form of late has been anything but notable, Aimar’s pair went into this as the overwhelming favourites. This championship has been a torrid one for the pair of Aritz Lasa. Many were surprised at the inclusion of Lasa in the competition at the very start and some, such as Gonzalez, who felt he had been slighted, were downright angry. The likeable forward, here playing in his home town of Urretxu, has had spells of form surrounded by longer periods of indifference and his cause has not been helped by the ongoing injury problems of original partner Aitor Zubieta. Zubieta, champion with Xala in 2010, only played seven of the fourteen games due to hand pain, and clearly struggled when he did take to the fronton. Lasa at various times had to play with Pascual and Penagarikano and thus the partnership was never a settled one. Despite their underdog status on Friday, Lasa and Penagarikano took the fight to the table toppers and pushed them harder than anyone could have envisaged. The closeness of the score was due in part to the rather careless early play of Olaizola, who appeared to think extending himself would be unnecessary. Mixed with the brilliance we have come to expect were a handful of errors which could have been avoided with a little more attention. Mendizabal is not currently in the league of Beroiz and as he faltered on one too many occasions, Olaizola raised his game, ending with fourteen winners to five errors. Lasa’s figures of seven to eight reflect the frustrations of a player who despite his best efforts was cramped by his forward rival and was pushed into uncomfortable positions time and again. Penagarikano had the best of the defensive battle, but Mendizabal’s inconsistency was obviated by Olaizola.
Fourteen from fourteen in the qualifying stages is a record of which Olaiziola and Beroiz can and should be extremely proud. However, they cannot afford to be complacent for a moment. Any one of the other three combinations who have made the semi finals is capable of beating anyone on their day and they must therefore continue to take due care to maintain both their level and their focus. Looking back over the past three months however, it is exceedingly hard to see how anyone can get past them, so devastating is their finishing power. Their rivals for the crown have little time to ponder tactics; Berasaluze and Albisu are first into the fray, taking on the invincibles this Saturday at Bizakaia.
Friday 23rd March, Urretxu
22:00 (CET) APEZETXEA – LADIS GALARZA v MENDIZABAL III – CECILIO
Followed by OLAIZOLA II – MENDIZABAL II* v ARITZ LASA – PENAGARIKANO* Pairs Championship (Mendizabal II replaces Beroiz, Penagarikano replaces Zubieta)
Sunday 25th March, Eibar
17:00 (CEST) RETEGI BI – CECILIO v EZKURDIA – ZABALETA (Zabaleta returns from injury here, having broken his arm at the same venue on Christmas Day)
Followed by XALA – LASKURAIN v BENGOETXEA VI – APRAIZ Pairs Championship
To watch, go to http://www.eitb.tv, https://www.eitb.eus/es/television/etb-sat/ or https://www.eitb.eus/es/deportes/deporte-en-directo/
The Promocion qualifying rounds finished this past week, one week in advance of those of the top tier competition. OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA top the table thanks to a late surge and a dip in the hitherto excellent form of JAUNARENA – CECILIO who end in second. URRUTIKOETXEA – IZA have secured their place in third, despite only playing ten games as a result of simultaneous injury. The final pair to squeeze into the top for were RICO IV – UNTORIA, who came from behind thanks to the demise of Gorka and Arruti. For this week’s results see here. The final table is as follows:
|
|
PAREJA |
JUG. |
GANADOS |
PERDIDOS |
Tf |
Tc |
DIF |
| 1º | OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA | 11 | 9 | 2 | 224 | 171 | 53 |
| 2º | JAUNARENA – CECILIO | 11 | 8 | 3 | 225 | 165 | 60 |
| 3º | URRUTIKOETXEA – IZA | 10 | 6 | 4 | 193 | 180 | 13 |
| 4º | RICO IV – UNTORIA | 11 | 6 | 5 | 212 | 206 | 6 |
| 5º | GORKA – ARRUTI | 10 | 4 | 6 | 174 | 184 | -10 |
| 6º | MENDIZABAL III – L.GALARZA | 11 | 4 | 7 | 184 | 221 | -37 |
| 7º | LEMUNO – ARETXABALETA | 11 | 3 | 8 | 176 | 218 | -42 |
| 8º | TAINTA – ARGOTE | 11 | 3 | 8 | 178 | 221 | -43 |
The first round of semi-finals will take place on Sunday 1st April, in locations to be decided.
Cecilio can look forward to the semis with partner Jaunarena
Photo: mine
The only pair certain of qualification before this past weekend was that of OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ, but not content with taking their foot off the throttle and coasting through the final two weeks, they dished out another hammering, this time to XALA – LASKURAIN, whom they beat 22-13 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. In doing so, the dealt them a blow as the vanquished pair slip out of the qualification places into sixth, one point in arrears of Olaizola and Beroiz’s empresa colleagues Berasaluze and Albisu. The one negative for the top pair is that Beroiz sits out this coming weekend through injury. He will be replaced by Mendizabal II with whom Olaizola won the tournament in 2008. They play the ailing Lasa and Zubieta on Friday, or whoever may play in their place. Xala and Laskurain face Bengoetxea and Apraiz in their fight for survival.
MARTINEZ DE IRUJO – BARRIOLA look as though they made be overcoming their recent wobbles; a 22-15 win over BENGOETXEA VI – APRAIZ in Urduliz puts them third, level on points with Berasaluze and Albisu behind them. Irujo and Barriola were forced to come from behind against a partnership who realised it was very likely do or die. Bengoetxea dominated in the early stages but his hold disintegrated from 12-6 and Irujo upped the ante and Apraiz began to feel Barriola’s heat. Though they closed gamely to 13-14, the Aspe pair proved to be in possession of an extra gear and their pressure drove their opponents to a raft of costly errors. The defeated pair face an uphill challenge to qualify, but depending on other results, a win over Xala and Laskurain could still be enough.
In the dead rubber in Tolosa, ARRETXE II – BEGINO salvaged some pride from their sorry campaign by beating GONZALEZ* – PASCUAL* 22-8. Gonzalez and Pascual were playing in place of Aritz Lasa and Zubieta who are both injured, and for the second week running were forced to watch their proxies making a mess of things in their name. Gonzalez will have done little here to support his contention that he should have been in the tournament ahead of Lasa in the first place.
The table, ahead of the final week of qualification looks like this:
|
|
PAREJA |
JUG. |
GAN. |
PERD. |
Tf |
Tc |
COEF |
|
1 |
OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ |
13 |
13 |
0 |
286 |
160 |
+126 |
|
2 |
TITIN III – MERINO II |
13 |
8 |
5 |
255 |
230 |
+25 |
|
3 |
MTZ de IRUJO – BARRIOLA |
13 |
7 |
6 |
249 |
210 |
+39 |
|
4 |
BERASALUZE VIII – ALBISU |
13 |
7 |
6 |
240 |
214 |
+26 |
|
5 |
XALA – LASKURAIN |
13 |
6 |
7 |
230 |
234 |
-4 |
|
6 |
BENGOETXEA VI – APRAIZ |
13 |
6 |
7 |
221 |
241 |
-20 |
|
7 |
ARITZ LASA – ZUBIETA |
13 |
3 |
10 |
182 |
261 |
-79 |
|
8 |
ARRETXE II – BEGINO |
13 |
2 |
11 |
152 |
265 |
-113 |
The final week’s fixtures are:
|
URRETXU, 23/03/2012 |
EIBAR, 25/03/2012 |
LABRIT, 24/03/2012 |
TOLOSA, 26/03/2012 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Friday 19th March, Logrono
TITIN III – MERINO II beat BERASALUZE VIII – ALBISU 22-14
The stage was set in Logrono for the local boys Titin and Merino to strike out for the semi-finals and they duly obliged, defeating a pair who had hoped to seize such a prize for themselves. Berasaluze and Albisu, despite their disappointing inability to be competitive here, are still right in the hunt but must wait for the final week to try again after crumbling in front of the baying Riojan masses who created a splendid atmosphere at Adarraga.
The game did not start as the home team might have wished, with two errors in a row from Merino. However, any suggestion that he had failed to settle was swiftly shouted down in the third point where he astounded Berasaluze by firing in a txoko winner. From this juncture, the tide began to turn and a raft of mistakes, notably from Albisu, combined with the discipline of Merino and the potency of Titin started to tell. Berasaluze showed glimpses of what he can do with a smattering of impressive points, but it was essentially one way traffic all the way to 15-5. When the game seemed up, something stirred in Berasaluze and he won his pair six points in a row, five from outright winners and one from an error enforced upon Merino. He was a different player in this spell and it was Titin who was forced to fight for scraps. However, any panic on the part of the Riojans was ameliorated when Albisu handed the serve back them by hitting low. Despite an error apiece from the leading pair, Berasaluze was unable to restore his blistering momentum and five unnecesasary errors on the bounce from the Asegarce duo followed by Titin’s third sakez winner propelled the game’s dominators into the semi-finals. As they embraced with delight in front of a rapturous home crowd, Berasaluze and Albisu were forced to rue a chance missed.
Scoring sequence: 0-2, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, 10-3, 10-4, 12-4, 12-5, 15-5, 15-6, 15-11, 16-11, 16-12, 17-12, 17-14, 22-14.
Winners/errors: Titin 10/0, Berasaluze 10/2, Merino 3/2, Albisu 2/7
Match time: 1:08.09 with 18:25 of actual play
Balls hit: 391
Pablo Berasaluze must try again on Saturday
Photo: mine
Friday 16th March, Urduliz
22:00 (CET) OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA v LEMUNO – ARETXABALETA Promocion Pairs
Followed by BENGOETXEA VI – APRAIZ v MARTINEZ DE IRUJO – BARRIOLA Pairs Championship
Sunday 18th March, Logrono
17:00 (CET) APEZETXEA – MERINO v IDOATE – LARRINAGA
Followed by TITIN III – MERINO v BERASALUZE VIII – ALBISU Pairs Championship
To watch, go to http://www.eitb.tv, https://www.eitb.eus/es/television/etb-sat/ or https://www.eitb.eus/es/deportes/deporte-en-directo/
The other Pairs matches this weekend are XALA – LASKURAIN v OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Saturday) and GONZALEZ* – PASCUAL* v ARRETXE II – BEGINO (Tolosa, Monday). The other Promocion matches are GORKA – MERINO* v RICO IV – UNTORIA (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Saturday), JAUNARENA – CECILIO v TAINTA – ARGOTE (Logrono, Sunday) and URRUTIKOETXEA – IZA v MENDIZABAL III – LADIS GALARZA (Tolosa, Monday).
I am afraid I only have time for a brief round-up of this week’s remaining results in the Pairs and Promocion Pairs championships.
In the main Pairs Championship at least, matters went entirely to script, with OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ taking a staggering twelfth consecutive win in beating BENGOETXEA VI – APRAIZ 22-12 in Pamplona on Saturday. The defeated pair slip to sixth but are level on points with the two directly above them. In Tolosa on Monday, BERASALUZE VIII – ALBISU lived up to their recent positive headlines with a 22-9 crushing of bottom pair ARRETXE II – BEGINO. They are now up to second and on recent performances they deserve their billing as the best of the rest.
|
PAREJA |
JUG. |
GAN. |
PERD. |
Tf |
Tc |
COEF |
|
|
1 |
OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ |
12 |
12 |
0 |
264 |
147 |
+117 |
|
2 |
BERASALUZE VIII – ALBISU |
12 |
7 |
5 |
226 |
192 |
+34 |
|
3 |
TITIN III – MERINO II |
12 |
7 |
5 |
233 |
216 |
+17 |
|
4 |
MTZ de IRUJO – BARRIOLA |
12 |
6 |
6 |
227 |
195 |
+32 |
|
5 |
XALA – LASKURAIN |
12 |
6 |
6 |
217 |
212 |
+5 |
|
6 |
BENGOETXEA VI – APRAIZ |
12 |
6 |
6 |
206 |
219 |
-13 |
|
7 |
ARITZ LASA – ZUBIETA |
12 |
3 |
9 |
174 |
239 |
-65 |
|
8 |
ARRETXE II – BEGINO |
12 |
1 |
11 |
130 |
257 |
-127 |
Things are also very tight in the Promocion Championship. Top pair JAUNARENA – CECILIO put last week’s defeat behind them to surge to a comprehensive 22-7 win over LEMUNO – ARETXABALETA. The second pair, OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA are level on points with Jaunarena – Cecilio following their 22-19 triumph over URRUTIKOETXEA – OTXANDORENA, the latter replacing the still-injured Iza. MENDIZABAL III – LADIS GALARZA kept alive their hopes of a late revival by beating SARALEGI – UNTORIA* 22-19. GORKA – ARRUTI dealt their growing chances a blow, losing 16-22 to TAINTA – IBAI ZABALA*.
|
|
PAREJA |
JUG. |
GAN. |
PERD. |
Tf |
Tc |
DIF |
| 1º | JAUNARENA – CECILIO | 10 | 8 | 2 | 207 | 143 | 64 |
| 2º | OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA | 10 | 8 | 2 | 202 | 156 | 46 |
| 3º | URRUTIKOETXEA – IZA | 9 | 5 | 4 | 171 | 160 | 11 |
| 4º | RICO IV – UNTORIA | 10 | 5 | 5 | 190 | 196 | -6 |
| 5º | GORKA – ARRUTI | 9 | 4 | 5 | 164 | 162 | 2 |
| 6º | MENDIZABAL III – L.GALARZA | 10 | 4 | 6 | 164 | 199 | -35 |
| 7º | LEMUNO – ARETXABALETA | 10 | 3 | 7 | 161 | 196 | -35 |
| 8º | TAINTA – ARGOTE | 10 | 2 | 8 | 156 | 203 | -47 |
Ibai Zabala, fit again after injury, helped Tainta to a win
Photo: mine
Sunday 11th March, Eibar
MARTINEZ DE IRUJO – BARRIOLA beat RETEGI BI* – PASCUAL* 22-4
Pairs Championship
We were faced on Sunday afternoon with the unusual situation of a pair made up of two substitutes. Zubieta has now been out for several weeks with ongoing hand problems, and last week his regular partner Aritz Lasa joined the ranks of the ill and infirm. It fell therefore to Retegi Bi and Pascual to represent them, and although they were already out of the running for a place in the last four one could not help but conjure up visions of the injured duo watching this match from behind the sofa. The statistics make it look like a virtuoso showcase for Irujo, finishing as he did with fifteen winners to two errors, but in reality he had to do very little as Retegi Bi and Pascual looked utterly out of their depth and sealed their own fate.
The result was really never in any doubt. Right from the start, Irujo made his pressure tell and the opposing pair appeared to have no strategy for dealing with it and no cohesion. It appeared briefly as if a contest may be on the cards when Irujo made two careless mistakes in a row to turn 0-4 into 2-4, but that was as good as it was going to get for Retegi and Pascual. Irujo did not make another error in the match and Barriola, but for one low strike when falling backwards on 17-4, was faultless. Retegi had his chances but proved utterly incapable of making them count. On 2-9 for example, he had the easiest possible chance to seize a winner with a cross into the left wall but totally blew it, the ball clattering low. Too often he threw away position through a lack of imagination and an inability to break through Irujo’s control. Pascual meanwhile made matters worse and with every error he committed looked more and more disgruntled at having to be there at all. He was easy pickings for Barriola in the tactical stakes. The game was neatly summed up by the final point, in which Retegi hit the ball wildly wide directly from a disciplined and excellently directed Irujo serve.
It was expected that Irujo and Barriola would win this but the scale of their triumph must have filled them with considerable delight. They are embroiled in a close fight for a semi-final spot and a win plus a positive points difference of eighteen has done them the world of good. Having been out of the qualifying spots, they have leapfrogged Xala and Laskurain into fourth. Everything hinges on the next two weeks.
Scoring sequence: 4-0, 4-2, 10-2, 10-3, 18-3, 18-4, 22-4.
Winners/errors: Irujo 15/2, Barriola 0/1, Retegi Bi 1/2, Pascual 0/5.
Match time: 35:27 with 16:21 of actual play
Balls hit: 318
