Real Madrid basketball side to play in China

Madrid, Aug 8 (IANS): Real Madrid, champions of the Spanish Endesa ACB Basketball League, have announced they will play an exhibition game in China in October as part of a campaign by the Euroleague to strengthen the image of that competition in the country.

Real Madrid will play the Beijing Ducks in a game that the Spanish club also hopes will help build a relationship and help an exchange of experience between the European and Asian game, reports Xinhua.

This will be carried out with promotional events with Chinese fans, practice sessions which will be shared with players and coaches and of course, visits to some of the most famous sites in China.

As well as winning the Spanish basketball league, which is considered to be one of the most important in the world after the glamor of the NBA, Real Madrid enjoyed a magnificent campaign in Europe, where the club coached by Pablo Laso reached the final of the Final Four of the Euroleague, before losing the final to Greek side, Olympiacos Piraeus.

They will become the fourth European side to visit China to face a Chinese side and follow in the footsteps of CSKA Moscow and Benetton Treviso, who made the trip in 2007 to play a competition held in Shanghai. Meanwhile the German side, Alba Berlin played some pre-season matches in China in 2011.