Basque Pelota World Championships

Basque Pelota World Championships

Tournament information
Sport	Basque Pelota
Established	1952
Number of tournaments	17
Current champion
Spain (7th title)

The Basque Pelota World Championships is a quadrennial tournament first organized in 1952 by the International Federation of Basque Pelota. The modern championships crowns the best amateur players in fifteen different playing categories.

History

The first edition of the tournament was organized in 1952, and until 1958 was played every three years. The tournament has occurred every four years since then. No third place titles were awarded during the first five editions of the tournament.^[1] Additionally, the number of disciplines disputed at each tournament has varied depending on the edition, and has even included disciplines played on the Plaza Libre in the editions of 1952 and 1958.^[1] Until the edition of 1990 no women's categories were disputed in the championships. A single women's discipline was added in 1990 (Paleta goma - Trinquete), then another one in 1994 (Frontenis), and finally a third one in 2014 (Paleta goma - Fronton 30 m) bringing the total number of disputed categories to fifteen.^[1][2]

Modern events

Trinquete, 6 events: Hand-pelota (individual) Hand-pelota (pairs) Paleta goma (men's) Paleta goma (women's) Paleta cuero Xare

Fronton (30 m), 4 events: Paleta goma (men's) Paleta goma (women's) Frontenis (men's) Frontenis (women's)

Fronton (36 m), 4 events: Hand-pelota (individual) Hand-pelota (pairs) Paleta cuero Pala corta

Fronton (54 m), 1 event: Jai alai

Editions

Year	Host City and Country		Best Performing Nations				Number of Participating Nations
1952	San Sebastián, Spain		France	Spain	Argentina		8
1955	Montevideo, Uruguay		Spain	Argentina	Mexico		7
1958	Biarritz, France		France	Spain	Argentina		9+
1962	Pamplona, Spain		Argentina	Spain	France		7
1966	Montevideo, Uruguay		France	Mexico	Spain		7+
1970	San Sebastián, Spain		Spain	France	Argentina		5+
1974	Montevideo, Uruguay		Argentina	France	Spain		5+
1978	Biarritz, France		Spain	Argentina	France		9+
1982	Mexico City, Mexico		France	Argentina	Spain		9+
1986	Vitoria, Spain		France	Spain	Mexico		12+
1990	Havana, Cuba		Spain	Mexico	France		10+
1994	Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France		France	Spain	Mexico		10+
1998	Mexico City, Mexico		Spain	Mexico	Argentina		10+
2002	Pamplona, Spain		Spain	France	Mexico		16
2006	Mexico City, Mexico		Mexico	Spain	France		18
2010	Pau, France		Spain	Mexico	France		22
2014	Zinacantepec, Mexico		Mexico	Spain	France		18
2018	Barcelona, Spain

Nations finishing in top four

Nation	First place	Second place	Third place	Fourth place	Total
Spain	7	7	3	0	17
France	6	3	6	2	17
Mexico	2	4	4	7	17
Argentina	2	3	4	8	17

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold[lower-alpha 1]	Silver	Bronze[lower-alpha 2]	Total
1	Spain	64	71	37	172
2	France	63	58	41	162
3	Mexico	47	39	28	114
4	Argentina	47	24	16	87
5	Uruguay	4	30	14	48
6	Cuba	3	5	14	22
7	United States	0	1	2	3
8	Chile	0	0	6	6

1. This table includes all modalities, inlcuding those being played in Plaza Libre in 1952 and 1958.
2. No bronze medals were disputed from 1952 to 1966.

List of hosts

List of hosts by number of championships hosted.

Times hosted	Host	Year(s)
6	Spain	1952, 1962, 1970, 1986, 2002, (2018)
4	France	1958, 1978, 1994, 2010
4	Mexico	1982, 1998, 2006, 2014
3	Uruguay	1955, 1966, 1974
1	Cuba	1990

References

1. Javier Solano (November 2004). "Historia de los Mundiales" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 September 2016.
2. Paloma (August 2015). "XVII Campeonato del Mundo de Pelota • Zinacantepec 2014" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 September 2016.