No clear favorite in the silver ‘cage’

The Cuatro y Medio de promotion already knows its itinerary. The tournament will bring together eight pelotaris, four from each company, who will start directly in the quarter-finals and the final will be on November 6 at a fronton to be determined. The competition starts without a clear favorite. After the draw carried out yesterday in the presentation of the Bizkaia fronton, the first group has been made up of Bakaikoa, Alberdi, Salaberria and Zabala, while in the second there will be Zubizarreta, Larrazabal, Egiguren V and Darío.

That of Ezcaray is one of the names that sounds the most to be in the final for the good moment so that it crosses, but the limited one is a distance that, so far, has not been good for him. Bakaikoa already won it three years ago, but is picking up the pace after the knee injury that took him off the court for four months. Egiguren V was the finalist last year in a fast version of the competition, while Alberdi also knows what it is to play the txapela in the top match even if he did not get it.

The fact that the championship begins with a league gives a certain margin of error to the participants, so the first match will imply a little less pressure. After the dispute of the three confrontations, the first classified of each group will face the second of the other in the semifinals. There will be no break between this phase and the title clash, and no postponements are contemplated.

“Anyone can win”

«The winner will have a safe place for the Four and a Half, provided that next year it is played from the sixteenth. If he starts in the round of 16 he will play the previous one ”, they pointed out from the companies.

Larrazabal will be the youngest of the participants. The Alava player already played it last year as soon as he debuted, and this time he wants to take a step forward. «Last season I was quite nervous and now I want to enjoy more. The training sessions have been good, although I have a difficult start ”, he admitted. Bakaikoa is one of the veterans. “If I have learned something in this sport, it is to ignore favoritism, because the level is great and anyone can win,” he said.

Egiguren V arrives after overcoming an injury and needs to pick up pace “but I’m confident and wanting to start”. His rival in the first match will be Zubizarreta. “The first objective is to try to capture what I have trained and see if we start well,” he said.