Jaialdi 2010 week kicked off with action-packed women’s pelota during the World Pilota Council international championship tournament at the historic Boise fronton on the Basque Block.

Team Euskadi, from the Basque Country and one of the tourney favorites, took on a squad from Boise representing NABO, or the North American Basque Organizations. The women played during one of the morning games on Tuesday July 27. The competition also features top-flight teams from South America.

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In the end, Euskadi prevailed 30 to 5, despite a hard-fought performance by Esther Ciganda and Anne-Marie Mansisidor of the NABO team. “It was a very good game,” Ane Isasmendi of the Euskadi team said. Her teammate was Itsaso Pradera.

Ciganda credited her opponents with a solid performance but added that she could have played better. “It’s frustrating when you don’t get a good hit,” she said. “Unfortunately, there was a lot of errors on my part.”

“They’re a good team,” added Mansisidor, “and we knew going in that it was going to be a hard one.”

The tournament features teams from Australia, Argentina, Venezuela and Bakersfield, Calif., which is also representing NABO. The tourney continues through the week with the championship game on Friday July 30.

In other Tuesday morning games, FEVA (Argentina) beat Australia 30-9 and Venezuela topped NABO 2 from Bakersfield 30-8.

Also coming up this week, NABO will also be holding its women’s and men’s championships beginning Thursday July 29 at the fronton.