Tag Archives: Beraslauze VIII

San Mateo: Merino II Comes of Age as Injury Lays Pablito Low

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Wednesday 22nd September, Logrono

TITIN III – MERINO II beat BERASALUZE VIII – APRAIZ 22-4

The young Riojan defender David Merino has been a professional a mere two months. Many in his position would have wilted under the pressure of being required to fill the shoes of the great Abel Barriola, arguably the best defender in the current game, but the 20 year old seized the game from the very first point and was the undoubted star of the evening. The game was brought to an abrupt halt as a contest with the cut to Berasaluze’s hand, which occurred with the score on 10-4 to the eventual winners. The Asegarce forward left the fronton to receive three stitches, and when he returned he was nigh on powerless to stop the rot, but the pattern had been set by then, and it is clear that the better side won. The solid Titin and his young foil made 11 winners between them, five of those coming from Merino, and committed no errors. Their opponents made four winners and nine errors, and from 4-4, they failed to win another point, showing no imagination, no spark and no potency.

Titin and Merino are not yet guaranteed a place in the final, as that will depend on the result of the game between last night’s losers and Bengoetxea VI-Patxi Ruiz. Tonight, Martinez de Irujo and Pascual take on Saralegi and Begino for a place in the last two.

Scoring sequence: 0-1, 4-1, 4-4, 22-4

Winners: Titin III 6, Merino II 5, Berasaluze VIII 4, Apraiz 0.

Errors: Titin III 0, Merino II 0, Berasaluze VIII 3, Apraiz 6

Balls hit: 245

Match time: 41 minutes

New boy David Merino is living up to his promise

New boy David Merino is living up to his promise

Image from Diario de Navarra, sources Diario Vasco, El Correo

San Sebastian round-up

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Last night, Pablo Berasaluze and Aritz Begino became the first pair to progress to the final of the Torneo Cuidad de San Sebastian. The Asegarce pair dominated proceedings at Atano III, defeating Xala and Fernando Goñi by 22 points to 12. The victorious partnership outplayed their rivals both in attack and defence; Begino was especially impressive, showing terrific strength, accuracy and range which put the usually unflappable Goñi in the shade. Berasaluze continued in his recent vein with some stunning forward play and all of the fiery defiance for which he is known. Xala was a contradiction, playing at times with mastery and at times with baffling carelessness, stinging airez winners mixing with too great a number of txapas. The result was never in serious doubt.

 The second semi final takes place this evening as follows:

 c. 23:00 (CEST) TITIN – EULATE v BENGOETXEA VI – MENDIZABAL II

 Sadly there will be no webcast.

 The first game, a ‘special’ match, of the festivities in San Sebastian was an unusual one, pitting as it did Juan Martinez de Irujo (playing with Titin III) and Aimar Olaizola (playing with Pablo Berasaluze) against each other as defenders. As one might expect, it was an extremely atypical encounter. Neither of the ‘defenders’ seemed terribly keen to play as such with all four pelotaris at times in the front portion of the fronton. This led to a fast and furious encounter with some highly entertaining points. However, Irujo did not appear entertained in any way, shape or form. The Manomanista champion looked like a fish out of water as he made error after error and constantly found himself out of position. Confusion reigned between him and Titin. In contrast, Olaizola and Berasaluze had a ball, perhaps ironically given Aimar’s reputation as a poor back court player in his junior days. They appeared relaxed and worked swimmingly together as a team, resulting in a crushing 22-7 victory. Despite being an encounter of little importance, Aimar will surely have been delighted with yet another score over his old rival this summer. The pair will meet again, rather more conventionally, in a mano a mano game on Saturday.

Begino and Berasaluze VIII

Begino and Berasaluze VIII