We take the same and start again. This Sunday, February 26, the final of the French championship head to head in bare-handed pelota (3:15 p.m.), will see Baptiste Ducassou, who is aiming for a sixth boïnaand Mathieu Ospital, who aims to win his first title. A game played at the Berria trinquet in Hasparren. At the beginning of January, during the Super Prestige final, it was the first who had taken over (40-35).
Ducassou-Ospital, two pilotari who both recorded a defeat in the group stage. It was against Peio Larralde for Itsasuar (40-33), against Peio Guichandut for Urepeldar (40-31). After many twists and turns, withdrawals, substitutions and formula changes, the competition resumed its course. In the semi-finals, Ducassou, the defending champion, had no trouble getting rid of Guichandut at Berria (40-28). In the other part, on the kantxa of the Garat, Ospital overthrew Peio Larralde, undefeated in the competition (40-31).
“For 40 points, we will forget our friendship.”
Mathieu Ospital: “I’m going to try to play as best I can (laughs) because against Baptiste it’s never easy. Above all, I hope to get a better start than at the half because otherwise it will be very, very difficult to come back to score. And I hope I’ll have a little more success than on Monday. Success already starts with the goal. We have to bring him back. We know very well that as soon as we leave him a little in the middle, he immediately finds the fillet or cutaway, and it gets to the point very quickly. It will be up to me to be careful to tighten as much as possible […]And then, compared to Pampi, I think that from where he is, he must be very happy with this final. We trained a lot with him, all three. I think he is proud of this poster and I hope we will have a good final.”
Baptist Ducassou: “Beyond the semi-final he made, I think he’s having a great head-to-head season. He’s turned a corner, physically and mentally. He’s much denser than in previous years and that resulted in a super half against Peio Larralde on Monday. He will arrive with a lot of desire. He just missed out on the Super Prestige victory, it didn’t play out much. he will have his heart set on to take revenge. For 40 points, we will forget our friendship […] we often train together, it’s great for both of us. We spent a lot of time with Pampi, so it’s great to be together for one of the biggest games of the year. We will forget all that during the game, there will be a loser, a disappointed and a happy. But whatever it is, we will be together to celebrate the end of the season.”
Darmendrail ─ St-Paul in Group B
On Monday, at the Garat in St Jean-Pied-le-Port, the group B final will pit Mickaël Darmendrail against Jon Saint-Paul (5 p.m.).