Basque pelota blog in english – Dos paredes

Tomorrow Master Jai Production’s new website will open for the public. The new site can be reached at: http://masterjaitv.com where we can already now find some promotion videos made by the Master Jai film team. The site will gradually be filled with news and photos, and from this blog we wish them all the best and hope that it will be a success.

Master Jai

Picture from: http://www.masterjai.com/aMJW/web/es/index.jsp

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Last night was the big show – with the best players in the United States facing off at the 20th Annual Citrus tournament, held at the Orlando Fronton, in Florida. Game 14 was the Citrus Championship Doubles Match, played to 10 straight points (as always).

The teams saved their best for last with the play fast and furious. Winning the game for the second straight year was the team of Recalde and Lopez, who were one of three teams representing Miami Jai Alai and had started out the game with seven straight points for a dominating lead. If there was any doubt as to who has the strongest roster, it was put to rest this evening, with all 3 Miami teams finishing one-two-three. World champion powerhouse Goico, teamed with Irastorza, finished second and Arrasate/Erkiaga came in third. Payoffs were, as expected, very low:

Fourteenth (Doubles, 10 pts.)
5 Rekalde-Lopez 6.20 3.20 2.20
7 Goichoetxea-Irastorza 3.80 2.60
2 Arrasate-Erkiaga 2.60
4 Diego-Enbil
Quiniela 5-7 $8.20
Perfecta 5-7 $24.80
Trifecta 5-7-2 $58.00
Superfecta 5-7-2-4 $265.20
.10 Superfecta 5-7-2-4 $13.20

There were many great points during the game, which lasted 33 minutes, bringing the capacity crowd to it’s feet on numerous occasions. One involved the team of Solozabal/Oyarbide and the champions.

Recalde/Lopez were at nine points and at match point, and they played very aggressively, throwing big heat and moving the ball all over the cancha – but there were a series of wild saves (including 2 fall down rebotes by Solozabal) which kept the point alive and was finally won by Solozabal/Oyarbide, with the crowd going wild. Although temporarily seated, Recalde/Lopez came back up again against another Dania team – Diego/Enbil, and finally prevailed to claim the title.

All in all, some of the best cesta punta played on the planet.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH:

Without a doubt, Lopez is a monster. He catches everything, can throw all the shots, covers the court well, communicates and motivates his partner, and finally – throws with a terrible ferocity. I don’t know if there is a better backcourter in the world (with all due respect to Irastorza and Enbil) and maybe, just maybe – he might be the best overall player (sorry Goico)

Goico was shut out of the titles (a rarity for him) with Solozabal and Irastorza taking the singles and Recalde/Lopez dominating the doubles.

A great day to be a fan of jai alai!

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Early this morning, Solozabal, using a crafty serve as a weapon, ran the table out from post position number 2, with a perfect game against the top frontcourt players in the world. There will be more to follow, but suffice to say, Solozabal has put the world on notice that when he wants to, he can dominate a game.

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Imanol López has shown this summer in the Basque country that he is a top player, and the two months he has spent in Miami so far has not done much to change that.

The zaguero from Zumaia finished his short summer season as the player with the highest percentage of wins just ahead of Irastorza and is leader in the beginning of the winter season, both in total quinielas won and in win percentage, just ahead of Goikoetxea, his compatriot and rival, who last year finished as number one in Miami followed by him.

The statistics are impressive; he has won 28 of the 111 quinielas he has taken part in, which gives him a win percentage of 25,2%. Goikoetxeo has with his 24 wins a percentage of 24,2%.

Source: Translated from http://manista.blogs.com/bitacora/

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The former runner-up at the World Championship is out of the 20th Annual Jai Alai Citrus Tournament in Orlando – on Jan 23/24th. The veteran will be replaced by the young (and running hot, as of late) Diego, who some will feel should have been included in the initial selections, instead of being a replacement player.

Diego was an injury replacement in the 2008 Citrus/World Cup Tournament, where he had a very quiet showing, when play was dominated by the two teams from the Miami fronton; Rekalde/Lopez (Champions) and Goichoetxea/Irastorza (2nd place).

The cancha at Orlando is known as a notoriously fast court and with the top 16 players in the U.S. (and arguably the top four in the world) one can expect the pelota to see plenty of action. This is not a night for those faint of heart or lacking in skill. If you have a weakness in your game, it will get exploited by these players and you will find yourself sitting down quite often.

While the official program has not been published yet, past tournaments will have the tournament players playing in ‘mixed’ warm-up games – where they team with each other in quinella style games, as regular fronton players (i.e. they will not play with their tournament partners). On Friday the 23rd, the feature games will then be the singles matches – when all the frontcourters will play against each other, and all the backcourters will go at it. The scoring is single points for both the fronts and backs and the game goes to seven points. In 2008, this is how the teams finished:

Backcourt Singles:
Zuri: 7 points, WIN
Barrondo: 6 points, PLACE
Lopez: 6 points, SHOW
Irastorza: 4 points
Sierra II: 3 points
Felix: 2 points
Oyarbide: 1 point
Hernandez: 0, (subbing for Enbil)

Frontcourt Singles:
Goikoextea: 7 points, WIN
Egi: 2 points, PLACE
Barronio: 2 points, SHOW
Arriaga: 2 points, FOURTH
Aperri: 2 points
Lander: 1 point
Rekalde: 1 point
Hormaetxea: 0

On Saturday the 24th, they will again have the players play in ‘mixed’ warm-up games, with the feature being the tournament doubles game player to TEN straight points. Last year, the teams finished:

Doubles:
Rekalde and Lopez: 10 points, WIN
Barronio and Sierra II: 6 points, PLACE
Goikoextea and Irastorza: 3 points, SHOW
Aperri and Zuri: 3 points
Lander and Felix: 2 points
Hormaetxea and Barrondo: 2 points
Arriaga and Oyarbide: 2 points
Egi and Hernandez: 0

For the 2008 tournament there were 2 teams that were flown in from Spain to compete:

Lander and Felix:
Hormaetxea and Barrondo:

Unfortunately for this years Citrus there are no teams from overseas – hence the thrid team each from Dania and Miami.

For the current lineup of players you can have a look at the official Orlando Jai Alai website:

http://www.orlandojaialai.com/promotional.htm

Stay tuned, cesta punta fans.

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Aitor Mugartegi and Alberdi II ceased the opportunity and defeated Treku and Elizegi with the score 35-29.

Mugartegi and Alberdi played well during the first part of the game, which quickly put them in the lead (11-8 and 14-10). Treku and Elizegi managed to even up the score a bit (17-16) but then didn’t manage to keep up their good play. From this point on they had more problems with their serves, which together with solid play from their opponents made the scores rapidly go via
( 26-18 ) to the final score 35-29.

Aitor Mugartegi Greña

Picture from: http://www.masterjai.com/

Source: Translated from http://manista.blogs.com/bitacora/cesta_punta/

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Aitor Mugartegi and David Treku will be playing tonight in Gernika Jai Alai (5 pm, the second match.) Their companions will be Luis Mari Alberdi and Adolfo Elizegi, respectively.

Source: Translated from http://manista.blogs.com/bitacora/

For the results, visit: Pelotalive

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