The 11th World Under-22 Basque Pelota Championship on 36-metre fronton will be held in Pamplona, at the Labrit fronton court, between 25 and 31 August. It will be the first time that the Navarrese capital has hosted an international Under-22 event since the first edition in 1984. Seven delegations will take part in the World Championship: Spain, France, Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba and Peru. More than a hundred people will take part, including pelotaris and technical staff from the participating countries.
In addition to all the games, courses will be held, such as a course for referees. The organisers comment that these will be practical classes and a final exam. It is focused on training branch referees in the 36-metre fronton modality. ‘Knowing how to act as a main referee and giving support to the referee’ is what will be taught in this course. In addition, this course will introduce future main referees to the rules and attitudes of a referee.
A CHAMPIONSHIP FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
The Councillor for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Rebeca Esnaola, highlighted in her speech the importance of this championship, an event that ‘will undoubtedly motivate and resonate with our young people. Because this World Championship is not only an opportunity to compete, but also to learn and grow, and of course to show our commitment to the Pamplona project, which wants to make this sport an easily recognisable city brand on a national and international level’.
For her part, the councillor and acting mayoress of Pamplona, Garbiñe Bueno, spoke about why it is so important for this event to be held here: ‘Because of the tradition, because of the importance that this sport has had historically and still has today in our city, considered the cradle of pelota’.
‘In Iruña, this sport has been revered for centuries, and pelota is something consubstantial to Pamplona, just as Pamplona is to this sport’, Bueno went on to explain.
Pelota in the village of Sare (France).(Patrick Frilet/Shutterstock)
A ‘CHALLENGE’ FOR THE ORGANISATION
Furthermore, the president of the Navarre Federation of Basque Pelota, Javier Conde, has underlined the ‘challenge’ of organising an international event of these characteristics, in which 61 matches are expected to be played. The most eagerly awaited match, the Spain-France short pelota match, will kick off the competition.
The 11th Under-22 World Championship of Basque Pelota will include the modalities of pelota a mano (individual and pairs), paleta cuero, pala corta, cesta punta individual male and cesta punta pairs female.
With this championship, which will be held entirely at the Labrit pelota court, Navarre takes over from the two previous venues: Íscar, in Valladolid, and Vallelado, in Segovia. In any case, the Comunidad Foral has experience in organising international pelota events.
The Labrit, which meets all the technical specifications required by the International Federation of Basque Pelota for its competitions, has hosted two Absolute World Championships: the first in 1962 and the second in 2002. The latter event, in which more than 350 pelotaris from 14 countries took part, was a milestone in the organisation of world championships.
Since then, the Government of Navarre and Pamplona City Council have supported the celebration of the first 36-metre fronton World Cup held in 1995, as well as the fifth trinquete World Cup in 2012, the five editions of the Gran Premio Internacional Ciudad de Pamplona or the historic Torneo Internacional San Fermín Txikito de herramienta.ión of the world championships.
