Jai-Alai

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Jai alai is a Basque sport involving bouncing a ball off a walled-in space by accelerating it to high speeds with a hand-held wicker basket-like glove, commonly referred to as a cesta. It is a variation of Basque pelota. The term jai alai, coined by Serafin Baroja in 1875, is also often loosely applied to the fronton where matches take place. The game, whose name means "merry festival" in Basque, is called zesta-punta in the Basque Country. The sport is played worldwide, but especially in Spain, France, the American state of Florida, and the Mexican state of Baja California.