cestapunta

Cestapunta, also known as jai alai, is a fast-paced court sport played with a curved wicker basket called a cesta. The basket is strapped to the player's hand and used to catch and hurl a small hard ball, the pelota, against a wall called the frontón. The objective is to deliver the ball so that the opponent cannot return it before it bounces twice or goes out of play.

Originating in the Basque Country of Spain, cesta punta is part of the Basque pelota family of sports. The term cesta punta refers to the basket (cesta) and the punta or tip of the ball. The sport spread to other Basque-speaking areas and to parts of Latin America and the United States, where frontons operate in clubs and occasional professional events.

Play can be singles or doubles, and the fronton can be configured as one-wall or multi-wall (three-wall) variants. The ball can reach very high speeds in professional play, with top shots approaching 180 mph (about 290 km/h). Points are scored when an opponent fails to return the ball according to the rules, and formats typically involve matches to a set number of points or games.

Cestapunta requires exceptional hand–eye coordination, speed, and reflexes, as well as strategic shot selection and banked plays off the walls. The sport remains most closely associated with Basque culture, though it is practiced in clubs and arenas in several countries.