Eukeni Martinez, Mikel Rafael, Raul Angulo and Axier Urresti, along with several players of the tournament. /
The championship will be played together with the women’s shovel Green Capital, a merger that will allow the public “to be attached to the ball during all the holidays”
The ball will once again have its leading role with the La Blanca Tournament. After experiencing the success experienced in the semifinals of the Women’s Masters, the fronton of the Plaza de los Fueros will once again host one of the most special events of the week, with women’s handball and shovel matches that started yesterday, July 26, with the first three matches of the competition, and which will last until the final rounds of the couples hand, which will be played on August 9, the last day of the Virgen Blanca Festivities (10:30 am).
“Finally we will have these two tournaments on the street again, something we have been wanting for a long time,” said the executive director of the Vital Foundations, Axier Urresti, who did not hesitate to explain the main reason for choosing the venue, which supplies the Frontón Ogueta, where the matches will be played in case of rain. «We have observed that, in the semifinals of the women’s ball, the number of people was greater than that experienced a season ago in Ogueta. We want this to be made much more visible.”
The Virgen Blanca handball tournament will be made up of 52 pelota players, who will be divided into four pairs handball categories: female school, cadet, youth and senior. “This type of tournament will allow spectators to observe the best pelota players in the province, who will have the opportunity to display their game at the Fueros fronton, one of the most emblematic places in the city,” said the director of Sports and Health of the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council, Eukeni Martínez, who did not hesitate to praise the work carried out by the Basque Pelota Alavesa Federation in the women’s racket Masters, which will be able to count on several participants in the Green Capital Championship, made up of six pelotaris and that they will be divided into two different groups. Unlike handball, the final will be on August 5, starting at 10:30 am. “It is one of the modalities that is linked to our culture and our roots, a duty that we must promote and protect so that it continues to be part of our identity,” said Martínez.
36 games in 11 days
With the purpose of recovering the “union” between the fan and the ball after two years marked by precautionary measures in the face of the health situation, the fronton of the Plaza de los Fueros will host 36 matches in 11 days with a menu of direct duels that will attract the attention of those interested in the sport. Yesterday afternoon the first matches of the Green Capital and hand ball in the senior category were played. Until next August 2, the public will enjoy the group stage of both modalities. Starting on the 3rd, the semifinals of the women’s shovel will begin, while the men’s handball will not be until the 6th and 8th of August. In the case of the women’s, as they are direct elimination duels from the first day, the two best pelota players will access the final on the 7th, at 11:30.
