Filed under: Pelota Mano
Tonight on http://www.eitb.com/television/etb-sat there is a tie from the quarter finals of the 2nd tier Cuatro y Medio championship. For overall standings see here. This is preceeded by a doubles game. Timings are as follows:
Friday 6th November, Urretxu
22.30 (CET) XALA – LASKURAIN v ARITZ LASA – PASCUAL
23.45 (CET) ARGOTE v CABRERIZO II
On Sunday there is a Cuatro y Medio Championship semi final on etb-sat, preceeded by a doubles match:
Sunday 8th November, Astelena, Eibar
16:55 (CET) BERASALUZE IX – ZUBIETA v OLAZABAL – EULATE
18:00 (CET) TITIN III – RETEGI BI
The other Cuatro y Medio semi final tie, which will not be broadcast on the web, is on Saturday (c. 19:00 CET) in Zarautz, and is between MARTINEZ DE IRUJO and GONZALEZ. For live updates, visit http://www.pelotalive.com/en/index.php
Filed under: Pelota Mano | Tags: 4 1/2, Beotibar, Berasaluze VIII, Cuatro y Medio, Gonzalez, Tolosa
Monday 2nd November, Beotibar, Tolosa
GONZALEZ beat BERASALUZE VIII 16-10 (match abandoned)
Sebastian Gonzalez yesterday booked his place in the Cuatro y Medio semi finals when Pablo Berasaluze sprained his ankle with the score at 16-10 in his favour. Up until that point, it had been a game full of quality in which Berasaluze had fought back from early problems before Gonzalez increased the pace and with it his scoreline. Berasalzue attempted to continue after his untimely injury, his ankle strapped, but could not and retired to warm applause.
Gonzalez therefore completes the all-ASPE semi final quartet, which is completed by Juan Martinez de Irujo, Titin III and Julen Retegi. The semi final round robin commences this weekend: Gonzalez and Irujo play in Zarautz on Saturday while Titin and Retegi play in Eibar on Sunday.
Source: Asegarce
Pablito: down and out
Image from: El Correo Digital
Filed under: Pelota Mano | Tags: 4 1/2, Astelena, Bengoetxea VI, Cuatro y Medio, Eibar, Martinez de Irujo
Sunday 1st November, Astelena, Eibar
MARTINEZ DE IRUJO beat BENGOETXEA VI 22-19
On Sunday, Manomanista champion Juan Martinez de Irujo fought his way past a gallant Oinatz Bengoetxea to become the third pelotari to qualify for the semi finals of the Cuatro y Medio championship. The game was played at an astonishing high pace and neither player disappointed with some first class shot making and very few errors. In a tense and close encounter, it was the 27 year old ASPE foward who held doggedly on to a three point lead to keep the battler Bengoetxea at bay. Irujo has already won the first two major championships of the year and he must now, having overcome this examination, be counted as the favourite to add a third.
Image from: El Correo Digital
Filed under: Pelota Mano | Tags: 4 1/2, Cuatro y Medio, Labrit, Olaizola II, Pamplona, Retegi Bi
Saturday 31st October, Labrit, Pamplona
RETEGI BI beat OLAIZOLA II 22-11
In what must count as one of the shocks of the year, 24 year old Retegi Bi has defeated defending champion Aimar Olaizola in the quarter finals of the Cuatro y Medio Championship. Olaizola has been the king of this format in recent years having won the championship on four occasions, equalling the record set by Retegi Bi’s father. The man from Goizueta has been in storming form for the majority of the past few months, notably beating Martinez de Irujo to take the Navarrese Cuatro y Medio title, but here he had no answer to the masterclass of the undoubted underdog. Unfortunately, as this was such a seminal point in the championship, I am not able to bring you an eyewitness report as there was no webcast, but reports state that Retegi Bi was simply superior in every facet of the game. Aimar, a shadow of his usual self, was out of the game from the word go, finding himself down 0-8 in quicktime. From there, there was no way back as the young forward hit his way to victory. Retegi Bi won the second tier pairs championship in both 2007 and 2008 but he now has a shot at something infinitely bigger; he takes his place in the semi finals by right.
Retegi Bi played the match of his life
Image from: El Correo Digital
Filed under: Pelota Mano | Tags: 4 1/2, Balmaseda, Cuatro y Medio, Olaizola I, Titin III
Friday 30th November, Balmaseda
TITIN III beat OLAIZOLA I 22-21
In a game full of drama and emotion, Titin III used all his wiles to defeat Asier Olaizola, who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Balmaseda. That the stakes were raised as the Cuatro y Medio Championship hit its quarter final stage was plain for all to see; both players are known to let their feelings show on the fronton but rarely is one taken so far into the heart of a human drama in the sporting arena. The crowd, for their part, hung on every second of the spectacle and lapped it up with relish and fervour.
Titin looked the more assured in the opening stages, running out to a 9-3 lead. His first three points came from mistakes by Asier, who clearly had initial problems finding his range, but Titin then let fly with three aggressive winners and an unreturnable serve. A strange bounce of the ball on 8-3 only served to bamboozle his opponent further. However, in the first twist of this remarkable match, Asier changed from puppet to puppeteer to draw level, both through some stunning striking of the ball and through a dogged tenacity in the long rallies. When Titin missed the ball completely, cursing both it and himself, the game was all square at 9-9. The middle part of the match was a topsy turvy rollercoaster in which nobody could take control. There was some incredible play, as characterised by Asier’s dosparedes on 12-10 which appeared to travel at the speed of light and in the scrap of a rally close in to the wall on 10-9 where neither protagonist seemed prepared to give an inch. At 15-15 the tension was palpable.
Asier then, for the first time in the match, asserted himself with true intent and although the gap between the rivals never grew larger than four points, the Goizuetan and his fans could sniff the semi finals. Curly hair flying and eyes bulging in pure concentration, he appeared imperious; at 17-21 Titin’s die was surely cast. Remarkably though, the Riojan whirlwind now whipped up the pace; for him the game was never up and what ensued was a nightmare for Asier as he lost five points in a row to throw away his golden ticket to the semi finals. Although Asier made a tragic miscue from Titin’s serve on 18-21, this turnaround was due more to the skill of Titin than his own lack of it. A gantxo from Titin tied the scores at 21-21. He then called a time out to gather himself, and both players, as they sat and pondered what was to come, gained the appearance of prize fighters about to put their entire beings on the line for this one final effort. The last point was a cagey affair which could easily have gone either way but it was Asier who cracked, under enormous pressure from his vanquisher, and hit the ball fractionally low. An extra inch of height and the losing shot may well have been the winner.
The evergreen Titin III then marches on. Asier will surely wish to block all memory of this encounter from his mind, for he was so close yet so very far.
Scoring sequence: 0-1, 1-1, 3-1, 3-2, 8-2, 8-3, 9-3, 9-4, 9-9, 11,9, 11-10, 12-10, 12-12, 12-15, 15-15, 15-18, 17-18, 17-21 and 22-21.
Titin III: never say die
Image from: Wikimedia
It’s quarter final time in the Cuatro y Medio championship and time for the big guns to come out to play. Entering the competition this weekend are defending champion Aimar Olaizola, Manomanista champion Juan Martinez de Irujo and last year’s other semi finalists, Titin III and Pablo Berasaluze. The ties are as follows:
Friday 30th October, Balmaseda: 23:50 (CET) TITIN III v OLAIZOLA I (live on http://www.eitb.com/television/etb-sat, preceeded by a doubles match at 22:25 (CET) between Urrutikoetxea - Begino and Arretxe II – Beloki)
Saturday 31st October, Pamplona: c. 19:00 (CET) OLAIZOLA II v RETEGI BI
Sunday 1st November, Eibar: 18:00 (CET) MARTINEZ DE IRUJO v BENGOETXEA VI (Live on http://www.eitb.com/television/etb-sat, preceeded at 16:50 (CET) by a doubles match between Berasaluze IX – Eulate and Aritz Lasa – Beroiz)
Monday 2nd November, Tolosa: c. 17:30 (CET) BERASALUZE VIII v GONZALEZ
For untelevised matches, go to http://www.pelotalive.com for live updates
Filed under: Pelota Mano | Tags: 4 1/2, Astelena, Cuatro y Medio, Eibar, Olaizola I, Saralegi
Sunday 25th October, Astelena, Eibar
Cuatro y Medio Second Round
OLAIZOLA I beat SARALEGI 22-17
For Ekaitz Saralegi, Sunday’s match against Asier Olaizola was a case of missed opportunity. Nobody seriously expected the man from Amezketa to be in this position, playing as he did Xala in his first round match, but he defeated the overwhelming favourite in that encounter, and he had his chances here too. In the end, Asier ran out the victor by 22 points to 17 but he was forced to survive a major scare along the way.
Saralegi began the match with promise, producing a serve which Asier could not return, to the delight of his extremely vocal fan club whose chanting became the soundtrack to the night. However, things then all went wrong as Asier took the next six points by virtue of three rather aimless Saralegi errors and three easy and nonchalant winners. Such was Saralegi’s demeanour that it was hard to imagine him winning another point, let alone the match. To his considerable credit, he did recover somewhat after a much needed time out; his botillero Aratz Mendizabal must have produced some wise words. However, he proved himself again and again unable to take any advantage of the chinks in Asier’s armour. Olaizola senior played a far from perfect game but Saralegi could not drive home the knife. The first instance of this came with the score at 6-2. Asier, perhaps resting on his laurels, had hit casually and low in the previous point but Saralegi threw away his foothold into the game with total miscue. Though the gap in points shrank gradually in the early period of the game, a similar important miss for Saralegi took place with the score on 11-7 following a sloppy attempt at a drop shot by Asier; Saralegi could have taken the point with a bit more care, but hit low when under little pressure.
Despite his underwhelming play in the first half of the match, things swung with a vengeance when Asier failed to dig out a low ball on 17-7; it was the turn of the Goizuetarra to fall apart. Saralegi won nine points in a row in a staggering turn around. He served with brilliance and speed, touching 104kph and hitting his eighth service winner to come within one point of Asier at 17-16. He also forced his opponent into errors in open play and swiped two commanding winners in a whipped dosparedes and a crosscourt airez. Asier looked stunned and turned to the counsel of his younger brother, defending champion Aimar, in the hope of stopping the rot. Saralegi had a massive chance to pull level with Asier at 17-17 which would have represented a huge psychological knock, but he blew it with an ambitious overhead attempt. He knew, from his expression, that he had missed another opportunity, this time a golden one. Again he had a chance at 18-17 but hit just long. His momentum was lost and his spirit dissolved. He failed to win another point in the match as Asier, finally, romped home on the back of two further errors from Saralegi.
So, Asier Olaizola proceeds to the quarter finals, where he will meet the evergreen Titin III on Friday. He will hope for greater consistency there, and a reacquisition of the form he showed in the first round. Saralegi has acquitted himself well in this championship; his contract at Asegarce is up for renewal in February and his performance here will surely stand him in good stead. But for a handful of opportunities missed, he could have gone further.
Scoring sequence: 0-1, 1-1, 6-1, 6-2, 8-2, 8-3, 8-6, 11-6, 11-7, 17-7, 17-16, 18-16, 18-17 and 22-17.
Asier Olaizola: eye on the ball
Image from: Diario de Navarra
Filed under: Pelota Mano | Tags: 4 1/2, Aritz Lasa, Bengoetxea VI, Cuatro y Medio, Patxi Ruiz, Retegi Bi
Yesterday, Saturday 24th October, saw two matches in the second round of the Cuatro y Medio Championship, resulting in a victory apiece for the two empresas. In Amorebieta, Julen Retegi got the better of Patxi Ruiz 22-15 in an error strewn encounter. Retegi made five errors but played well, especially in defence, and manipulated Ruiz with ease. Ruiz for his part committed ten errors and as a result was never in the game. This must come as a huge disappointment for the man from Estella, who was clearly delighted to have come through his first round match with no sign of his long standing back injury. Retegi will play defending champion Aimar Olaizola in the quarter finals next weekend.
Meanwhile, things were tight in Pamplona, where Oinatz Bengoetxea defeated Aritz Lasa 22-19. It was an intense, 70 minute encounter which could have gone either way, but the former Manomanista champion, who showed great strength in both attack and defence, held his nerve at the last. Bengoetxea will face Juan Martinez de Irujo next weekend for a place in the semi finals.
Bengoetxea VI is through
Image from: El Correo Digital, Sources: ASPE, Asegarce
Filed under: Pelota Mano | Tags: Gonzalez, Leiza, Zeanuri, Cuatro y Medio, 4 1/2
Saturday 23rd October, Zeanuri: GONZALEZ beat LEIZA 22-12
It fell to the small Bizkaian town of Zeanuri to host the first second round tie of the Cuatro y Medio championship and an enthusiastic but not overly large audience clearly relished the favour. The players in question were 32 year old Sebastian Gonzalez from ASPE and Asegarce’s 29 year old Inigo Leiza. On paper, Gonzalez was the favourite here but Leiza must have been brimming with confidence after an excellent win over Asier Berasaluze last weekend. Leiza, on body language alone, looked more alert to the task while Gonzalez appeared, as he often does, rather cool and lackadaisical, serving ten pasas in the course of the game. However, it was the latter who displayed the necessary extra gear when the going got tough.
For the first eight points it seemed as if we would witness the close battle for which all had been hoping. Leiza opened proceedings (after the first Gonzalez pasa that is) with a gantxo winner which seemed to signal some intent and the pair traded blows in turn. A fabulous tactical play from Leiza left Gonzalez totally out of position and led to stalemate at 4-4, at which point the same player called a time out which perversely seemed to disrupt his flow, for despite continuing service problems, Gonzalez surged ahead. The man from Lapurdi took the next seven points with such commanding ease that it looked like a light had been turned on somewhere inside him. He hit crosscourt winners in both directions, a txoko winner straight from a masterful second serve, and airez and two dosparedes in a demonstration of his full attacking armoury. Leiza’s second time out, which came at 4-9, was born of a need to avert meltdown. However, the delantero from Lemona somehow managed to haul himself out of the black hole and gradually clawed his way back to touching distance. Leiza, in contrast to his opponent, was in command of his serve and it was this which gave him much of his success. This was especially the case with the txoko winner which took him to 10-13, set up purely by a strong serve which left Gonzalez stranded far too far back. Gonzalez though, sensing the encroaching danger, once again moved up a level and cruised to 18-10, barely breaking a sweat. From this position of strength conceding two further points to Leiza was of no matter. Ironically, after his ten pasas, Gonzalez took the match with a masterful serve to the right which Leiza could not even reach.
This tie did not live up to the high expectations of some but Gonzalez was a clear and worthy victor, outshining Leiza in every aspect of the game bar the serve. He will now face the terrier like Pablo Berasaulze in the quarter finals on November 1, when he can expect a far tougher challenge.
Scoring sequence: 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 5-4, 11-4, 11-6, 12-6, 12-7, 13-7, 13-10, 14-10, 18-10, 18-11, 19-11, 19-12 and 22-12.
Sebastian Gonzalez: through to face Pablito
Image from larioja.com
Filed under: Pelota Mano
There are two second round Cuatro y Medio matches on etb-sat this weekend. Tonight (Friday), Sebastian Gonzalez of ASPE plays Inigo Leiza of Asegarce in Zeanuri. Leiza is riding the crest of a wave after his easy defeat of the talented Asier Berasaluze in the first round and may cause problems for Gonzalez, who reached this stage after overcoming Diaz. On Sunday, Asier Olaizola plays Ekaitz Saralegi in Eibar. Saralegi pulled off the upset of the first round in his defeat of Xala but Olaizola looked in ominous form against Mikel Olazabal and is the likely favourite. Details are below:
Friday 23rd October, Zeanuri
22:30 (CEST) IRUJO – CECILIO v BERASALUZE IX – PASCUAL
23:45 (CEST) LEIZA v GONZALEZ Cuatro y Medio 2nd round
Sunday 25th October, Astelena, Eibar
16:55 (CEST) DEL REY – GONI III v OLAZABAL – LASKURAIN
18:00 (CEST) OLAIZOLA I v SARALEGI Cuatro y Medio 2nd round
To watch, go to http://www.eitb.com/television/etb-sat
Other Cuatro y Medio 2nd round ties are between BENGOETXEA VI and ARITZ LASA (Saturday, Pamplona) and PATXI RUIZ and RETEGI BI (Saturday, Amorebieta). For live updates visit http://www.pelotalive.com
