Why Are Argoitia And Txanika Getting Hosed In Spain ?? Posted on May 20, 2026 at 02:22:46 PM by BigMucho
As an outsider unfamiliar with the inner workings of the jai alai partidos circuit in the Basque region, I sometimes have difficulty understanding how the Jai Alai League ("JAL") is selecting which players get invited to participate in its tournaments. Is this a situation where at least around the margins politics and/or seniority are sometimes triumphing over merit?
Take the examples of Argoitia and Txanika. The JAL has invited players like Caparrus, Delpuech, and Laborde to compete in the qualifying rounds for its elite "Summer League" tournaments instead of Argoitia? Similarly, the JAL has invited players like Bonnin, Etcheberry, and Bixente to the qualifying rounds instead of Txanika? What?! Really?! What type of ganja is JAL smoking?
Turning first to the case of Argoitia, we have clear evidence of his relative prowess from the recent three-month season in Dania where the rostered pelotaris played head-to-head against each other for nearly 500 quinella games on a near nightly basis. That, my friends, is a very large sample size that allows for definitive comparisons between and among the players. Here is how Argoitia stacked up relative to Laborde and Delpuech at Dania:
So it wasn't even close. And as much as I like Atain who is an excellent young back courter with a very bright future, Argoitia should be getting at least the same level of opportunities to participate in JAL tournaments as Atain. The truth is that Argoitia was the better player over the course of their recent three months of head-to-head competition at Dania despite being three years younger:
The numbers don't lie, nor does Argoitia's consistently strong play in both doubles and singles partidos since returning to Spain.
That now brings us to the perplexing case of Txanika. While I acknowledge that Libois is a pretty good young player, Txanika has recently proven himself to be a better and more well-rounded pelotari with a vastly superior right side. So how in the world is Libois apparently serving as an automatic participant in the JAL "Summer League" tournaments while Txanika isn't even being given the opportunity to participate in the qualifying rounds? Very very hard to explain. And even Bixente is somehow getting invited to the qualifying rounds over Txanika? What?! Here is how Txanika stacked up relative to Libois and Bixente during the recently completed Dania season:
Back in Spain, Txanika recently came within three points of defeating Aritz Erkiaga in the Basque Singles Championship (Banakako Laboral Kutxa). Yet this guy supposedly isn't good enough to even be invited to try to qualify for the "Summer League" tournaments? Hmmm.
At least Jai Alive had the good sense to not only invite Argoitia and Txanika to participate in the currently running Donostia Grand Slam tournament, but also to pair them together. Not surprisingly, Txanika/Argoitia have already defeated and dispatched Hormaetxea/Bailo in the first round...
Tiger's Jai-Alai Chalk Talk
