Joseba Ezkurdia. /
Darío suffers from bad hands and the Navarrese does not want to lose pace to face the semifinals with a guarantee after being unemployed for almost two weeks
Joseba Ezkurdia received news early in the morning yesterday that he had already imagined. On Tuesday night they told him that Darío, his next rival on the third day of the Manomanista, had ended up with very bad hands. The next call from his company was to confirm that on Saturday he was not playing at the Labrit fronton in Pamplona either. The Navarrese had to change his planning again. First it was due to the suspension of Altuna III, who decides today if he will be at the Atano III fronton against Zabaleta on Saturday.
The man from Arbizu doesn’t want to dwell on the situation. “It is what it is,” he summarizes. He has a bittersweet taste because he has reached the first goal that he had set for himself and is in the semifinals of the biggest tournament, but he is a little worried about “playing them without having played the last two games and against a tougher opponent.” In fact, as soon as he learned that Ezcaray would not be there, he asked his company to schedule a couples match for him this weekend «with the aim of having a competitive rhythm. To at least transfer the good feelings I have in training to the field », he explains. Aspe listened to him and will play with Oier Etxebarria against Irribarria and Bikuña on Saturday. It won’t be the same though. «I have to mentalize myself to try to handle the situation as best as possible. I’m on fire and doing things well, and that calms me down and motivates me.”
The one from Arbizu is worried about playing the semifinals without playing the last two games and against a more rounded rival
However, he acknowledges that the break suffered was taking “a little long”. The suspension of Altuna III made him have to change his plans, and he already had everything closed for the clash against the Riojan. Now he has to retouch them again. In fact, he yesterday he put a physical training instead of the choice of material. “Since I don’t play, today and tomorrow I will also train hard,” he argues.
Artola or Jaka
He does not want anything to throw him off center despite the setbacks that have arisen. He is one step away from what could be his first final of the modality, which will also be played on the fronton of the Navarra Arena multipurpose space. A Navarrese cannot ask for more. «It was bad luck that out of three games he was only able to play one, because when we are in a championship what we want is to play. I prefer to have the fears that you have in the previous matches of this type than to reach the semifinals without that tension.
He will meet his rival on Sunday. Artola or Jaka. “I don’t know who I prefer because they both command a lot of respect and a very tough match awaits me. They are different, but whoever arrives will do so after overcoming a life or death duel and that provides greater motivation », he concludes.
