Tag Archives: Torneo Aste Nagusia

Pelota on ETB this week: San Sebastian & Aste Nagusia

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The final of the Torneo Ciudad de San Sebastian takes place at Atano III tomorrow night. Pablo Berasaluze and Aitor Zubieta booked their place thanks to a 22-17 win over the Leitza pairing Oinatz Bengoetxea and Abel Barriola, and will play Martinez de Irujo and Albisu for the prize. Bilbao’s Aste Nagusia tournament starts on Saturday. The full schedule is here, and the televised matches are listed below.

Friday 17th August, San Sebastian

22:15 (CEST) APEZETXEA – LARRINAGA v OLAETXEA – OTXANDORENA

Followed by BERASALUZE VIII – ZUBIETA v MARTINEZ DE IRUJO – ALBISU Torneo Ciudad de San Sebastian Final

Sunday 19th August, Bilbao

17:00 (CEST) GONZALEZ – LARRINAGA v URRUTIKOETXEA – IZA

Followed by TITIN III – MERINO II v BENGOETXEA VI – APRAIZ

Wednesday 22nd August, Bilbao

18:30 (CEST) SARALEGI – IBAI ZABALA v RETEGI BI – ZABALETA

Followed by BERASALUZE VIII – ALBISU v either OLAIZOLA II – BEGINO/XALA – ZUBIETA

The Bilbao final is on Saturday 25th, but will be on NITRO rather than ETB. As I won’t be around to put a schedule up next week (I’ll be in the Basque Country!), the following Sunday’s matches are as follows:

Sunday 26th August, Villar de Torre

17:00 (CEST) APEZETXEA – LARRINAGA v GORKA – CECILIO

Followed by TITIN III – MERINO II v MARTINEZ DE IRUJO – MERINO

To watch, go to http://www.eitb.tv, https://www.eitb.eus/es/television/etb-sat/orhttps://www.eitb.eus/es/deportes/deporte-en-directo/

Bizkaia is the focus this week

Bizkaia is the focus this week

News briefs: San Sebastian and Bilbao

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Berasaluze VIII and Zubieta will dispute the final of the Torneo Ciudad de San Sebastian after defeating Bengoetxea VI and Barriola 22-17 at Atano III on Saturday. Apart from a brief moment of parity at 17-17, they stayed ahead of their opponents throughout to win in 73 minutes after 607 strikes of the ball. They will play Martinez de Irujo and Albisu in the final, to be held in San Sebastian on Friday. This final will pit last year’s winners Irujo and Zubieta against each other, each paired this time around with a partner from Asegarce.

Bilbao’s Torneo Aste Nagusia begins this Saturday at Bizkaia, and is much expanded from last year, lasting eight days rather than four. The final will be held on the 25th. Six pairs will play for the crown, three from each empresa. Aspe will send Xala-Zubieta, Pairs Champions Titin III-Merino II and Martinez de Irujo-Barriola. Asegarce fields Olaizola II-Begino, Bengoetxea VI-Apraiz and Berasaluze VIII-Albisu. I am going to the Basque Country on Friday and hope to be at some of the games early next week. Photographs and reports will follow when I return!

Torneo Aste Nagusia Final: Berasaluze VIII and Begino Take Bilbao Prize

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BERASALUZE VIII – BEGINO beat TITIN III – ZUBIETA 22-17

Pablo Berasaluze and Aritz Begino won the inaugural Torneo Aste Nagusia in Bilbao on Saturday, with victory over Titin III and Aitor Zubieta, the latter standing in for David Merino who was suffering with a fever. Bizkaia was full to the rafters, producing a superb atmosphere, and the pelotaris did not disappoint with both pairs playing extremely well. For the majority of the encounter, the pairs were very evenly matched and were level at 6, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14 but from 14-14 Berasaluze sprang into action, grasping the game with both hands. He was easily the player of the match, and ably supported as he was by Begino, there was little Titin and Zubieta could do to stop progress. He finished with 14 winners to Titin’s 11, in sealing Asegarce’s fifth tournament win of the summer.

Scoring sequence: 0-3/ 1-3/ 2-3/ 2-6/ 6/ 6-8/ 8/ 9/ 10/ 13-10/ 13/ 14-13/ 14/ 14-20/ 17-20/ 17-21/ 17-22

Titin: no service winners, 11 winners, Zubieta: 1 winner, Berasaluze: 2 service winners, 1 service error, 12 winners, Begino: 3 winners

Match time: 59 minutes

Balls hit: 379

Pablo Berasaluze led from the front

Pablo Berasaluze led from the front

Image from Diario de Burgos, source Aspe

Torneo Aste Nagusia Semi Finals

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Bilbao’s inaugural summer tournament, the Torneo Aste Nagusia, is taking place this week at Bizkaia. The first semi final was held on Wednesday, and saw a 22-19 victory for TITIN III – MERINO II over OLAIZOLA II – BEROIZ. It was a tough match, lasting well over an hour and involving 810 strikes of the ball, but the closeness of the final scoreline belies the reasonable ease with which the Aspe partnership triumphed. They lost the first point but after that were never headed, despite being held to 4-4 and 9-9. They opened up a gap with the finish line in sight, leading 17-12 and 19-14. Olaizola and Beroiz, still inexperienced as a pairing, pulled themselves back into it at 19-19, but lost the next three points to cede the match. The losers played well in spurts but neither had their best day, while Merino in particular played excellently.

Scoring sequence:  0-1/ 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 6-4/ 6-5/ 8-5/ 8-7/ 9-7/ 9/ 10-9/ 11-10/ 11/ 12/ 17-12/ 17-14/ 19-14/ 19/ 22-19

Last night, Titin and Merino II learnt the identity of their final opponents, as BERASALUZE VIII – BEGINO beat MARTINEZ DE IRUJO – LASKURAIN 22-14. The game was intense, but the Asegarce pair won with some confort. They were tracked closely by their opponents in the early part of the match, but from 8-8 onwards Berasaluze opened his shoulders, dominating Irujo on his way to ten winners in the match. Irujo gave him far too many gifts and his adversary had the form to capitalise. The final will be held tomorrow.

Scoring sequence: 3-0/ 3-1/ 4-1/ 4-2/ 5-2/ 5-4/ 7-4/ 7-6/ 8/ 13-8/ 13-11/ 15-11/ 15-12/ 17-12/ 17-13/ 18-14/ 22-14

Pablo Berasaluze, flying high

Pablo Berasaluze, flying high

Source: Aspe, image from reta