Tag Archives: Larrinaga

2013 Manomanista draw revealed

With the Pairs final only just in the history books, the draw was announced yesterday for the 2013 Manomanista Championship. Sixteen pelotaris will compete for the title, won last year by Aimar Olaizola.

For Asegarce: Olaizola II, Bengoetxea VI, Albisu, Arretxe II, Beroiz, Idoate, Olaizola I and Urrutikoetxea
For Aspe: Martinez de Irujo, Barriola, Ezkurdia, Gonzalez, Jaunarena, Retegi Bi, Zabaleta and Xala

The draw is as follows:

Group A: Barriola vs Arretxe II (Legazpi, Friday 3rd)> Retegi Bi > Olaizola II
Group B: Gonzalez vs Urrutikoetxea (Labrit, Saturday 4th) > Xala > Idoate
Group C: Olaizola I vs Jaunarena (Eibar, Sunday 5th) > Zabaleta > Bengoetxea VI
Group D: Beroiz vs Ezkurdia (Labrit, Saturday 4th) > Albisu > Martínez de Irujo

The final will be held on Sunday 16th June

Promocion Pairs: Belated Congratulations to Jaunarena and Cecilio

Saturday 28th April, Pamplona

JAUNARENA – CECILIO beat OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA 22-14

Promocion Pairs Final

I was in the Basque Country while the Promocion Pairs final took place but was unable to get to Labrit, and as I had limited internet time while I was there and have devoted this week to writing about the main championship final, this game has been rather overlooked. However, it was no less important to their pairs involved, who had battled since January for place in the last two. Throughout the tournament, Jon Jaunarena and Cecilio Valganon, and Mikel Olazabal and Inaki Larrinaga have been the best and so it was fitting that they should meet to fight it out for the prize. By all accounts the favourites were dominant from 6-7 onwards, with Olazabal failing to push Jaunarena onto the back foot and Larrinaga less effective from long than Cecilio. A txapela here for Cecilio (24, Ezcaray) means that of the four individuals to triumph in the two pairs championships, three are from La Rioja. A golden age for them indeed. This also represents a first professional championship win for 20 year old Leitzarra Jaunarena, who looks set to be the next great player from that talent-rich Navarrese town. Congratulations to them both.

More success for La Rioja in the form of Cecilio

More success for La Rioja in the form of Cecilio

Photo: mine

Shock in Bilbao as Xala and Laskurain make a final without big favourites

Friday 13th April, Bilbao

XALA – LASKURAIN beat OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ 22-18

Friday 13th, unlucky for some, and certainly unlucky for Aimar Olaizola and Mikel Beroiz. Save for one narrow loss to Titin III and Merino II the previous week, Asegarce’s flagship pairing had blazed an unbeaten trail through the 2012 Pairs Championship, winning fifteen matches in a row. They had to win here to secure their place in the final, a place which had seemed a certainty for weeks on end. They had one foot over the line, and most of the second as they found themselves in a 16-7 lead here. However, an injury to the right hand of Beroiz, exacerbated at 10-5 when he left the field of play for treatment, proved their spectacular undoing. This state of affairs is to take nothing away from Xala and Laskurain, who knew exactly what they had to do to exploit the defensive hole left by their opponents and followed a ruthless plan to absolute perfection. They only just scraped into the semi finals at the expense of pre-tournament favourites Irujo and Barriola, and now find themselves in the final. As Beroiz missed to hand them their 22-18 win they could scarcely believe what had happened to them.

The first half of the match was all Aimar and Beroiz. Beroiz was not as solid as of late and clearly not on top form, but thanks to the continuing winning swagger of Aimar, his contribution seemed more than enough. Xala made two hapless errors in a row to hand the favourites a 3-8 advantage and it was very evident who was on top both in the mental stakes and in reality. Xala served his way back into some contention but Aimar was in no mood to mess around, playing Laskurain like a puppet on a string for a 10-5 lead clinched with a trademark gantxo. When Beroiz returned from his injury break, things were clearly not all well but Aimar, well aware of the situation, shouldered responsibility for keeping the ball away from his partner as much as he realistically could. He looked imperious in stretching their advantage to 13-5, using his serve as a platform for the domination of three points on the trot.

However, there was a limit to the amount of time that one player, however great, could take so much of the play on himself. Beroiz ceded the serve at 8-16 with a mishit and Xala and Laskurain seized the day. They repeatedly pummelled Beroiz, who had no hitting power and no answer. It was a simple but brutally effective tactic and worked to a tee. Aimar, presumably realising the need to grasp chances for winners when he had them in order to shorten each rally, missed a brace of winner chances and the pressure continued unabated. When Beroiz did not miscue or fall short, his returns were not deep enough and presented Xala with easy opportunities to put points away. The man from Lekuine also served with great accuracy; no trick was missed. As Aimar found in the Manomanista final last year summer, when Xala eyes the prize he rarely lets up and so it proved here. Injury to Beroiz or no, this was a staggering comeback. Beroiz ended with seven errors, though in reality many more points were lost as a direct result of his weakness. Aimar was on paper at least the better of the forwards but circumstance prevailed against him. Sport can be cruel.

Scoring sequence: 0-1, 1-1, 1-3, 3-3, 3-9, 5-9, 5-10, 5-13, 7-13, 7-16, 14-16, 14-17, 18-17, 18-18, 22-18.

Winners/errors: Xala 8/5, Olaizola 10/4, Laskurain 3/3, Beroiz 0/7.

On Sunday, the line-up for the Promocion Final was completed as OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA beat RICO IV – UNTORIA 22-17 in Pamplona. They will return to Labrit on Saturday 28th April to play JAUNARENA – CECILIO for the title. Jaunarena-Cecilio beat a spirited URRUTIKOETXEA – IBAI ZABALA 22-20 in the dead rubber in Eibar. The main Pairs Final takes place on Sunday 29th April at Bizkaia in Bilbao and I will be there to report from the scene!

Promocion Pairs: Jaunarena and Cecilio the first finalists

Jon Jaunarena and Cecilio Valganon have become the first pair to qualify for the final of the Promocion Pairs Championship. They reached the last two with their second win of the semi finals, taking a resounding 22-8 win over Mikel Olazabal and Inaki Larrinaga in Ezcaray on Friday. This win represents a massive signal of intent for the Navarre-Riojas duo, who after an excellent qualifying campaign were pipped to table leadership by Olazabal and Larrinaga. Either pair would have qualified for the final with a win here, but the erstwhile top partnership was smacked down with aplomb. They must now wait and try again on Sunday, when they face Rico IV and Untoria in a play off for the second final berth.

Rico IV and Untoria kept their hopes alive with an even more resounding win, over Urrutikoetxea and Otxandorena (the latter Iza’s stand-in) in an Vicente de la Sonsierra on Saturday. Urrutikoetxea has been put at a disadvantage ever since injury to Iza disrupted their progress, and has had to deal with two changes in partner. He and Otxandorena were no match for the Riojans here, losing 22-5. Their championship is now over. They do however have a chance to salvage some pride in their final match, the dead rubber against Jaunarena and Cecilio in Eibar on Sunday.

Urrutikoetxea is out

Urrutikoetxea is out

Promocion Pairs Semi-Finals: first week goes to form

There were no shocks in the first week of the Promocion semi finals as the first and second pairs in qualifying both registered wins. In Beasain on Friday, OLAZABAL and LARRINAGA took a tight game 22-19 over URRUTIKOETXEA and IBAI ZABALA* (the latter standing in for Inaki Iza). JAUNARENA and CECILIO won in Logrono on Sunday, beating local pair RICO IV and UNTORIA 22-16. This victory was no walk in the park for the Navarre-Rioja duo but a win by six points means they have done enough to top the table going into week two. Last weekend’s two victorious pairs play each other in Ezcaray on Friday, while the losers take each other on in the Riojan town of San Vicente de la Sonsierra on Saturday.

Ibai Zabala and Urrutikoetxea (centre and right) fell just short

Ibai Zabala and Urrutikoetxea (centre and right) fell just short

Photo: mine

Promocion Championship Results: week nine

Friday 2nd March, Mutliva: SARALEGI* – ARETXABALETA beat MENDIZABAL III – PENAGARIKANO* to gain their third point of the competition. It is likely too little too late however for Aretxabaleta and his injured regular partner Lemuno.

Saturday 3rd March, Pamplona: OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA beat TAINTA – IBAI ZABALA* 22-12 and as a result, draw level with Jaunarena and Cecilio at the top of the table. They are second on points difference. Tainta and usual partner Argote remain down and out.

Sunday 4th March, Logrono: RICO IV – UNTORIA beat JAUNARENA – CECILIO 22-19 in an unlikely slip up for the top pair. They remain in first place, but will have to be on guard from the host of couples waiting in the wings.

The scheduled match in Amorebieta between URRUTIKOETXEA – IZA and  GORKA – ARRUTI, both very much in the running for a semi-final place, was postponed as both Urrutikoetxea and Iza are injured.

 

PAREJA

JUG.

PUNTOS

Tf

Tc

DIF

JAUNARENA – CECILIO 9 7 185 136 49
OLAZABAL – LARRINAGA 9 7 180 137 43
URRUTIKOETXEA – IZA 8 5 152 138 14
RICO IV – UNTORIA 9 5 171 174 -3
GORKA – ARRUTI 8 4 148 140 8
LEMUNO – ARETXABALETA 9 3 154 174 -20
MENDIZABAL III – L.GALARZA 9 3 142 180 -38
TAINTA – ARGOTE 9 1 134 187 -53

A British Girl in the Basque Country, Part 2: Lezama and Hondarribia

(You can read Part 1 HERE!)

We awoke on Friday morning to brilliant blue skies. The Basque Country was in the throws of a heat wave and it was set to continue. Our first port of call in an action packed day was a visit to the EiTB offices where we would meet my contact there, Igor Lansorena, and be shown around. My blog has been hosted by EiTB for over two years now and it was fabulous to see where the organisation operates and how everything works, as well as to meet the person with whom I’ve exchanged so many emails over the months! As well as all the offices, we had a look at the news studios, so familiar from ETB Sat. Here I am, pulling my best Serious News Reader Face:

Trying to look the part

Trying to look the part

Up until the evening, cycling filled the agenda, for this was the day the Vuelta a Espana returned to the Basque Country for the first time in 33 years. It was a special day on so very many levels and even now, looking back, I can hardly believe we experienced what we did; Euskaltel Euskadi’s Igor Anton, from Galdakao, just a few kilometres outside Bilbao, broke away on his own roads in front of friends and family to win on the Gran Via amidst scenes of collective and uproarious joy. The sight of the small and somehow vulnerable figure, celebrating as he rode through a sea of orange and ikurriñas was both beautiful and moving, something we felt highly privileged to have witnessed. I won’t go into too much more detail here, as I wrote about it on the cycling blog Podium Café; take a look at that for more outpourings of my Euskaltel love! This historic win would have been quite enough to make our day one to remember, but there was still pelota to come…

Local boy Igor Anton is just slightly happy

Local boy Igor Anton is just slightly happy

After the cycling, we walked back to the EiTB offices to meet Igor (Lansorena rather than Anton, who was presumably still beaming in the midst of a packed press room at this point) who was going to drive us to Lezama for the evening’s televised matches. It certainly felt surreal to be attending rather than watching back at home in the usual Friday evening slot. Lezama is a short drive from Bilbao and is known mainly for being home of the Athletic Bilbao training grounds, but football is not the only sport to be practised here and we arrived in plenty time at the small and slightly provincial feeling fronton. This fixture had a decidedly local feel to it; players were jogging around in the car park and we stepped straight from the outside virtually onto the playing area to take out seats. I came to love the immediacy of pelota, the fact that such great athletes are so close and so accessible. We were in Lezama not as ‘public’ but as guests of EiTB, and the first moment of the evening to make me grin from ear to ear was an introduction to Xabier Euzkitze, pelota presenter and commentator whose voice I knew so well. It felt like a great honour and I was so touched when he told me he knew about this blog. I truly felt welcome and at home in a foreign land.

There were two games on the menu for the evening. The first was between Apezetxea and Larrinaga, and Jaunarena and Merino, the former pairing winning 22-19. I don’t remember all that much about the game itself, but I certainly recall the moment not far into it when I saw a man approaching from my left with a video camera and a microphone. Now, I know they like to interview members of the crowd at matches, but they usually pick upon former players, people from the empresas and the like. Now it seemed the target was me and my jaw nearly hit the floor. I suppose I can understand why an English girl watching pelota in Lezama is considered out of the ordinary, especially when she runs a blog on it! I had no time to think of what to say so I’m sure I didn’t sound at all erudite, but I don’t think I said anything too unfortunate. Once again I was overwhelmingly flattered and excited, and couldn’t stop grinning. Amusingly, when we got back to Bilbao later that night, my friend turned on the TV while I was in the bathroom and hollered through the door at me that I was on it. Out I rushed to see my face on the screen and hear my very English accent ringing around the room. I’ve maybe used the word ‘surreal’ too many times, but please can I use it again here?!

In the second match, Retegi Bi and Zubieta beat Titin III and Zabaleta 22-13. We had seen Zabaleta accidentally injure Aritz Lasa the night before, and tonight it was his turn to do himself a mischief, landing literally at my feet on his right shoulder before leaving the fronton for treatment. Thankfully for him, he was able to return, but could not prevent Retegi and Zubieta from taking a classy win.

After 'The Interview'

After 'The Interview'

Lezama

Lezama

Merino

Merino

Titin

Titin

On Saturday, we went to Oier Zearra’s farewell match in his home town of Galdakao. I won’t write about that as I did a separate post on it, which you can read here. I felt it really deserved its own piece.

Sunday was our final full day in the Basque Country and for the first time, we left Bizkaia. The day’s matches, televised by ETB, were in Hondarribia which nestles up against the French border, across the estuary from Hendaye. We left Bilbao in the morning on the bus to San Sebastian, along with legions of people wearing the bottle green supporters’ garments of Kaiku, for today it was the famous Bandera de la Concha, one of the greatest of the traditional summer rowing competitions which are held up and down the Basque coast each. When we arrived in San Sebastian we realised swiftly just how big this day was in the local calendar. Kaiku’s fans were joined by those of all the other boats, including many for the eventually victorious Urdaibai, creating a colourful and good natured throng. We failed to see much at all of the actual competition save a boat or two in the distance, but merely being there was a fabulous experience.

A boat!

A boat!

Lots of people

Lots of people

We saw....very little!

We saw....very little!

The heaving old city

The heaving old city

However, we couldn’t while away the day in San Sebastian, beautiful and vibrant though it was, for we had to catch another bus to Hondarribia. We got there intentionally early in order to have a look around the old town, and we found yet another Basque gem, full of cobbled streets and gorgeous traditional houses, overlooking the water in one direction and the mountains in the other. Hondarribia, seemingly like almost everywhere else, was in the midst of its fiesta and food and drink was flowing in its pintxo bars.

Hondarribia's old town

Hondarribia's old town

Cobbled street

Cobbled street

In advance of the 5pm start time, we made the short walk to the fronton, which is on the edge of the town centre, outside its old protective walls. Hondarribia’s fronton was the largest one we had been to and it was almost full. It felt far more like a big sporting event than the other, rather cosier feeling evenings in smaller frontons had. We sat further from the frontis this time, in order to get the defenders’ perspective and gain an understanding for the vast distance they are required to hit.  In the first match of the evening, Zabaleta put his bad week behind him, teaming up with Gorka to beat Idoate and Cecilio 22-19.

Xabier Euzkitze got a helping hand from Abel Barriola

Xabier Euzkitze got a helping hand from Abel Barriola

Idoate

Idoate

Zabaleta throws to Idoate

Zabaleta throws to Idoate

Idoate and Zabaleta discuss

Idoate and Zabaleta discuss

Gorka is interviewed

Gorka is interviewed

The feature match once again included my favourite Zubieta, this time playing with Xala with whom he won the Pairs Championship in 2010. We were very excited to see this Rolls Royce of a couple in action, but they failed to fire with Xala especially off colour, losing to Irujo and Pascual 22-13. This was a small disappointment, both to me and to the middle aged woman on my right who was either Zubieta’s mother or was madly in love with him. Much to our amusement, his every strike of the ball was met with a whispered ‘aupa Aitor!’ from the terribly tense sweaty palmed fan, and his every error with a shriek of dismay.

Irujo smiles

Irujo smiles

All set

All set

A laughing Manomanista Champion, Xala

A laughing Manomanista Champion, Xala

Children take to the fronton once the pros have left

Children take to the fronton once the pros have left

When the last point came to an end, hands had been shaken and the players had retreated out of sight, I felt suddenly empty and rather sad. It was over. We hung around the fronton like lost souls, wandering onto the playing area to take in every vista, to commit everything to memory. We were just about to leave when Zubieta, still in kit, came jogging past. With pure reflex action, I somehow managed to ask him for a photograph in some bizarre mixture of Spanish, English and a little Basque. He apologised for having to run straight to a TV interview but came over when he was finished and happily posed for me. I have little clue what he said, but he was delightful. Milesker Aitor! Zabaleta also smiled for the camera. And so, that really was it. The next morning we were back in England, a little numb and a little sad, but brimming over with wonderful memories, of people, places and sporting action as well as a greater appreciation for the culture, the rhythms and the soul of Euskadi and its wonderful sport of pelota. I will be back, and soon.

No caption needed!

No caption needed!

Zabaleta, relaxed

Zabaleta, relaxed

All photos are mine

Pelota on the web this weekend

This weekend sees both a professional debut, and more from the Pairs Championship, which started with victory for Berasaluze VIII and Begino on Wednesday (report of this match to come). As far as the former is concerned, tonight sees the start of Inaki Larrinaga’s career at Aspe, paired with the experience of Gonzalez. We wish him well. There are two pairs championship matches to savour in addition; on Saturday, defending champion Martinez de Irujo, who plays with Beroiz rather than Goni III this time round, opens his account. He and his young partner should be favourites here, against last year’s bottom pair Olaizola I and Patxi Ruiz. On Sunday, runners up in 2009 Olaizola II and Mendizabal II taken on Titin II and Pascual. They too will be favourites but could have a fight on their hands.

Friday 8th January, Elorrio

22:30 (CET) APEZETXEA – UNANUE v CABRERIZO – GALARZA VI

23:50 (CET) GONZALEZ – LARRINAGA v ARITZ LASA – GONI III

Saturday 9th January, Labrit, Pamplona

18:00 (CET) MARTINEZ DE IRUJO – BEROIZ v OLAIZOLA I – PATXI RUIZ: Pairs Championship Quarter Final round robin

Sunday 10th January, Astelena, Eibar

16:45 (CET) BERASLAUZE IX – CECILIO v ARITZ LASA – LARRINAGA

17:50 (CET) TITIN III – PASCUAL v OLAIZOLA II – MENDIZABAL II: Pairs Championship Quarter Final round robin

Larrinaga makes his debut

Image from: Manista