Monday 27th February, Tolosa
XALA – LASKURAIN beat ARRETXE II – BEGINO 22-15
This was far from being a walk in the park for clear favourites Xala and Laskurain. In the end however, Xala exerted control and despite some excellent defensive efforts from Arretxe the match went their way. The underdogs never drew level with the eventual winners but hung on gamely and it looked as if they had their chances to strike out for their first win of the championship from 8-10 and 10-13, but the gap could never be bridged. Despite an indifferent start in the tournament, Xala and Laskurain are now up to second, leapfrogging Titin and Merino who held the spot for the weekend. Arretxe and Begino have lost ten from ten.
Scoring sequence: 1-0/1/4-1/4-3/8-3/8-5/10-5/10-8/13-8/13-10/15-10/15-12/18-12/18-15/22-15
Saturday 25th February, Bilbao
OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ beat GONZALEZ* – BARRIOLA 22-18
This match did not have the hype of the corresponding fixture in the first rotation. Back then, Irujo and Barriola and Olaizola and Beroiz were both unbeaten and looked certain to be the eventual finalists. The former have suffered a slump in recent weeks however, and their loss here means they slip to fourth. They now face a serious threat from the two pairs just below them, who are level on points. The good news for them is that Irujo will be back this weekend, having recovered from mumps. For Olaizola and Beroiz it was business as usual; ten wins from ten in a competition of this level is an extraordinary achievement.
There is no stopping Aimar
The Pairs Championship table now looks like this:
|
|
PAREJA |
JUG. |
GAN. |
PERD. |
Tf |
Tc |
COEF |
|
1 |
OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ |
10 |
10 |
0 |
220 |
119 |
+101 |
|
2 |
XALA – LASKURAIN |
10 |
6 |
4 |
187 |
168 |
+19 |
|
3 |
TITIN III – MERINO II |
10 |
6 |
4 |
195 |
176 |
+19 |
|
4 |
MTZ de IRUJO – BARRIOLA |
10 |
5 |
5 |
190 |
169 |
+21 |
|
5 |
BERASALUZE VIII – ALBISU |
10 |
5 |
5 |
182 |
171 |
+11 |
|
6 |
BENGOETXEA VI – APRAIZ |
10 |
5 |
5 |
172 |
187 |
-15 |
|
7 |
ARITZ LASA – ZUBIETA |
10 |
3 |
7 |
160 |
195 |
-35 |
|
8 |
ARRETXE II – BEGINO |
10 |
0 |
10 |
99 |
220 |
-121 |
In the Promocion Championship, Jaunarena-Cecilio maintained their top spot by beating Urrutikoetxea-Iza 22-11. Mendizabal III-Merino* beat bottom pair Tainta-Argote 22-13. Lemuno-Aretxabaleta came from behind to beat Gorka-Arruti 22-19, and Olazabal-Larrinaga lie in second outright thanks to a 22-18 win over Saralegi*-Untoria.
The Promocion table, with three rounds to go, is as follows:
|
|
PAREJA |
JUG. |
GAN. |
PERD. |
Tf |
Tc |
COEF |
| 1 | Jaunarena-Cecilio | 8 | 7 | 1 | 166 | 114 | 52 |
| 2 | Olazabal-Larrinaga | 8 | 6 | 2 | 158 | 125 | 33 |
| 3 | Urrutikoetxea-Iza | 8 | 5 | 3 | 152 | 138 | 14 |
| 4 | Rico-Untoria | 8 | 4 | 4 | 149 | 133 | 16 |
| 5 | Gorka-Arruti | 8 | 4 | 4 | 148 | 140 | 8 |
| 6 | Mendizabal III-Ladis Galarza | 8 | 3 | 5 | 130 | 158 | -28 |
| 7 | Lemuno-Aretxabaleta | 8 | 2 | 6 | 132 | 162 | -30 |
| 8 | Tainta-Argote | 8 | 1 | 7 | 122 | 156 | -34 |
Photo: mine
