PANAMA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers) — The Panama national team will receive the United States in a duel meant for history books. A full house is expected for this encounter at the Roberto Durán Arena. The Caribbean team looks forward to being able to grab one of the seven spots for the Americas at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China.

For the first time, the United States will visit the local team at the Roberto Durán — an Arena that has history written in its name.

On February 6, 1970 the then-named Nuevo Panamá arena was inaugurated at Ciudad Deportiva Irving Saladina. There, the 11th edition of the Central American and Caribbean Games took place with the Cuba-Panama final, and the locals achieved the gold medal with players that are now national glories, such as point guard Davis Peralta Checa.

Currently, the stadium is named after the famous Panamanian boxer Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Durán. Its administration was remodeled from 2004 to 2009 and it was during that time that it was given the name of the greatest representative on Panamanian basketball. It was re-inaugurated on April 30, 2009, and an homage took place for the world champion and distinguished boxer.

It should be noted that Durán demanded the restoration as a condition to accept having his name in the building. He wanted that "the gym looked nice and have a good seating capacity.” Today, it officially holds 10 thousand spectators, although sometimes there are reports of 18,000. “We counted seat by seat and there are 10,000 installed, although it may increase by adding more chairs,” said Manolo Escudero, Panamanian basketball narrator and commentator.

The stadium has a modern sound system, including acoustic panels that enhance the sound's fidelity. The ceiling’s structure also has an illumination system that provides and excellent quality of light.

Jamaal Levy, power forward for the Panamanian national team, talked about the encounter against the United States and referred to some details of the stadium: “They named it Roberto Durán as a tribute to our historic boxer. Great boxing matches have taken place there and they use it for recitals as well. It's at Ciudad Deportiva, where there’s an Olympic pool and it's near the soccer stadium. Many great matches have taken place there. The Copa Latina took place there. It was organized by Panama and nearby teams were invited, such as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. It's a great honor to have a stadium like this one and have it named after the legendary Roberto (Durán).”

Regarding the encounter against the North American team, he commented: “It's a historic match, everyone’s talking about it. We’ll have that opportunity to play as locals against important players. We're going to be able to play in front of our people and against a rival that’s a world powerhouse and that excites us. We know that it’s a big team with many weapons, it's very intense and very physical — with five players that can move up and down the court. We’ll try to be strong and set the rhythm.”

The fans have already called the encounter as the “Historic Match.” It is expected that the person for whom the stadium is named after, Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Durán will be present for an encounter that will remain in the memories of all Panamanians — although this has yet to be confirmed.

FIBA