After the successful edition of the San Fermín Tournament, the Emakume Master Cup circuit does not rest. The match between Amaia Aldai-Uxue Osés and Miriam Arraiza-Nora Mendizabal will open next Sunday in Barakaldo (Bizkaia) the second edition of the Master Laboral Kutxa Summer Tournament that will bring together ten of the best pelotaris in the field divided into five pairs. It will be on the second day, on the 25th in Vitoria, when the four remaining combinations enter the fray in a festival with double programming. In the first game Aldai-Osés will repeat against Madalen Etxegarai-Enara Gaminde and then Olatz Arrizabalaga-Leire Galeano will face Leire Garai-Andrea Capellán.
According to what the promoters have highlighted in the presentation that has been carried out in Larrabetzu, the tournament takes a leap in quality this year by joining a new couple and thus organizing a preliminary phase that guarantees four games for each of the couples. Vitoria (August 6), Zarautz (August 18), San Sebastián (August 19), Bakio (August 30) and Lezo (September 4) will host the following days from which the protagonists of the semifinals that will take place on September 13 will emerge. in Galdakao.
The final and the match for third and fourth place will be played on September 29 in Hondarribia, where the successors to the list of winners of Aldai and Capellán, winners of the inaugural edition of the reference tournament in women’s Basque pelota during the summer period, will be known. For the first, born in Dima 23 years ago, the challenge is to repeat the triumph that she achieved in the first edition with Capellán from La Rioja, but it stands out that the youngsters come from below and are pressing very hard. “I don’t rule myself out,” she says. Her teammate Osés doesn’t have a very aggressive shot, but she is sure and knows how to move to create gaps. “I like these long championships, that there are no direct knockouts, that are not fair; This way you have more filming before the final phase, to get sensations”. She and Arrizabalaga have been the stars of modern baseball, but now the range is widening. “We knew that at some point it was going to happen, thanks to us that path has been opened, we are proud that the ball among women has not been dying, good people are coming from behind”, Aldai remarks.
For Aldai, “any striker who plays with Gaminde right now is labeled a favorite because she has a lot of confidence and a great shot. I see them as very favourites, but I think that Uxue and I can also have a good championship”. Gaminde is one of the current references: a year 2023 is curdling to frame. To date, they have managed to prevail in the three competitions they have played: the Couples, the Comunidad Foral de Navarra Tournament and the San Fermín Tournament. In this Udako Torneo he will seek to prolong his form and, thanks to Etxegarai, add his fourth txapela of the season.. She makes the difference at the back, she is very safe and it is difficult to see her fail with either of her hands. “It is noticeable on the courts that women’s baseball is increasingly booming. It’s getting more and more colorful. Until now there were few pelotaris and if one is wrong with the hand, we dose the rest”, applauds Arrizabalaga.