The WiZink Center, the former Palacio de Deportes, is the nerve center of Madrid basketball. A temple that has enjoyed five Copas del Rey, one Eurobasket final phase and two World Cups, Euroleague and Endesa League matches, LEB Oro and Women’s League matches. A sum and continues of baskets, dunks and triples that have excited thousands of fans for years. But that he has never experienced something similar to what happened this Sunday when Real Madrid and Movistar Estudiantes will occupy your parquet floor in a triple session lasting about ten hours: from 12:30 p.m. to almost 10:00 p.m..
A “new record”, in the words of Impulsa Eventos e Instalaciones, the management company of the sports hall, which will start at 12:30 p.m. with Real Madrid-Surne Bilbao, a match corresponding to matchday 22 of the Endesa League. Four and a half hours later, at 5:00 p.m., it will be the turn of Movistar Estudiantes, who will face CB Almansa on matchday 23 of the LEB Orothe Second Spanish basketball division. Since the whites moved from the Caja Mágica to the WiZink Center in August 2011, merengues and Ramireños have shared the Felipe II venue on numerous Sundays. At breakneck speed, workers modify its interior, going from white to blue and from blue to white in just a few hours.
women’s turn
An excellent decoration operation to which a third will be added this Sunday. Barely an hour after Javi Rodríguez’s boys finish, the Movistar Estudiantes women’s players will face Casademont Zaragoza (8:00 p.m.) on matchday 25 of the Endesa Women’s League. It is the seventh time that the women in black They play at the Palacio de Deportes. They have never lost. On this occasion, they will do it (in addition to International Women’s Day) in full celebration of the 75th anniversary of a student club from which they emerged 34 years ago (1989).
A birthday in which they will be the center and in which the great pioneers and legends of the female Estudiantes will be honored, such as Sonia Blanco, Montse Antón, Aauri Bokesa, Clara Rodríguez, Irene San Román, Mariola Hernández, Leslie Knight, Irene Castrejón, Paula Palomares… and Mariana González, the great captain: 16 years in blue, 13 in the first team with which she won two promotions and with which she is the top scorer (2,468) and rebounder (1,493) always at Ramiro. Her 295 games between First (57) and Second (238) are also a historical top.
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In addition, he was part of the squad that on March 10, 2019 beat, in this same WiZink Center and against Magec Tías Canarias, the record for the highest attendance ever for a women’s basketball game in Spain with 13,472 spectators. A figure that may be in danger today: at the beginning of the week, more than 11,500 tickets had already been reserved for this double day for men and women.
Unique figures and an unforgettable presence that will be remembered in the period between both meetings with a documentary in which his sporting career will be reviewed. Fans will enjoy the Mariana González experience at the newly opened, NBA-style center scoreboard. A magnificent day of basketball without having to travel. Who gives more.