Iñaki Osa Goikoetxea announces his retirement
As first reported by our buddy Perry on Tigers site, the great Goikoetxea, considered by many to be the best player in the world, has announced his retirement. The following information was supplied by Goiko’s good friend and Cancun Jai-alai co-owner, Arturo Salas:
The point shooter Zumaiarra will hang the basket in February with 42 years and 13 individual championships
P.D. Amundarain Zumaia | 20·06·23
Iñaki Osa Goikoetxea, ‘Goiko’, has announced on Tuesday afternoon that he will retire from the tip basket at the end of this season, next February. The Zumaiarra, born in 1980, has announced the news in an act held at the Palacio de Foronda of his town, Zumaia. There they stuffed him with family and friends in front of a nourished media presence.
The act has started with a video of the best moments of Goiko’s 27-year career. As the same ended, the star entered with a flood of applause from the audience. Lander Eizaguirre, director of communications at the company Eraman, of which the punctuator is part, wanted to “say about Goiko what he can’t say.” He has angered the athlete and the person: “In each generation there won’t be one like Goiko. He stood out for his playing and his humble demeanor. It will be a long time to see someone like this. He’s a one-of-a-kind scorer; he’s left some plays I’ve never seen anyone do. He is a striker of almost a hundred kilos and almost two meters who has sometimes played as a defender. His place is at the highest in the history of the pointed basket.”
Goiko, for his part, has admitted to dropping out “at the best time” from his career and from the end basket. He has recalled his beginnings on the Odiet front of Zumaia. At just 16-years-old he packed his suitcases and went on his Milan debut. Then he went through the United States; first to Newport Jai-Alai, between New York and Boston, and later he arrived in Florida. There it went down, and it was shown in Orlando. In his thirteen years in Miami Jai-Alai was taken King. At 35 years old, he returned to Zumaia: “I went out with only a suitcase and came back having started a family.”
All that time he spent in America accompanied him to summer seasons in Euskadi, winning it all: individual championships, world championships in pairs…
The Last Dances
The last dances to Goiko before hanging up the basket. The farewell will start at his “beloved” Zumaia in the Master’s Series which will be played June 24-30. He will pass the fronts of Markina-Xemein, Donibane Lohitzune, Pau, Gernika, Biarritz, Hondarribia, Madrid and Durango to bid farewell to the fronts definitively at the Gernika Winter Series (from October 30 to February 11), the most important and prestigious competition of today. “I’m going to give everything in these games, and I want to enjoy them to the maximum. I wanted to leave it to the basket and not for her to leave me
In the end, Eizagirre and Goiko have given the news that the Zumaiarra, once he finishes his stage as a professional athlete, will continue linked with this sport, as he will move to be the sporting director of the company Eraman.
