Aizkoa Iturrino , world champion in  Basque pelota , finished 7th in the  French interclub championship  organized in Strasbourg from February 1st to 3rd with its club: the Central Sport Club. Passed by the  tennis  and  ball , she is now learning padel, with great pleasure.

 Aizkoa Iturrino  pass from one  snowshoeing  to another with ease “It’s very recent for me to play padel. During the French interclub championship, our team was made up of tennis friends. We have known each other for a very long time. We were not there in competition mode, but we still managed to achieve good performances,” she assures.

Close encounters

His team finished in 7th place. During the weekend,  Aizkoa Iturrino  (250th) played with  Ainhoa ​​Berecoecha  (58th). They played two matches hs hooked  that they lost in  three sets  salary.  Carla Toully  (3rd) who is ranked 82nd in the world and  Steffi Merah  (29th). Then against the pair  Kim Barla  (20th) /  Alexia Dechaume  (25e).

All the results of the Interclub N1 2025

Weekend dedicated to whales

After this pleasant team experience, she wants to continue playing  paddle  but it will be according to his  timetable . Between his professional life,  sports educator  and her sports competitions, she has little time left for padel.  Aizkoa Iturrino  practice one of the  20 specialties  of Basque pelota, called the  whale . “I am rarely available on weekends. Soon, I saw that padel tournaments are being organized in Agen or Narbonne. In the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, padel is not yet very developed, especially for women's competitions.”

Four gold medals

Despite its  4   gold medals , one in silver and  5 in bronze , the Biarrote has never lived financially from the whale. And she could not devote her life to a  new challenge  : “Travel, hotel and tournament fees. You have to have a huge budget to make a living from an individual sport.” The 31-year-old trains every day on average  1:30 am  : between physical preparation, training and matches.

Tennis player

If you  paddle  is brand new,  Aizkoa Iturrino , originally from Biarritz, practices  tennis  since childhood. “I had a very good level and I was at the Pôle espoirs in Biarritz with Léa Godallier, Baptiste Benetoux and Jean Dumartin. Players that we find today on the padel circuit. Then at the age of 15, I suffered a serious injury to my left wrist. I felt pain when I hit a two-handed topspin backhand. In my family, everyone played pelota, that's when I decided to start playing it. The shots were completely different from tennis, I no longer had any pain,” she emphasizes.

With all its  international medals  in Basque pelota and his promising beginnings in the  paddle ,  Aizkoa Iturrino  Will she also be able to bring back titles for the  French padel  ? Continued in the coming years.

Henri Pasquet

Passionate about soccer and tennis since I was a kid, I've been playing ping-pong for three years at a club in Nantes. More recently, I discovered padel! Basketball, rugby, golf, and motorsports: yet more new sports that I follow regularly. On the cultural side, since I love giving my opinion, I write film and video game reviews on my Instagram page, Silence ça Mix.

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