Basketball galore, fighting sticks... Your sports weekend in Île-de-France

2023-01-20T16:57:32.582Z

At the start of the year, a few sporting events will animate the halls and stadiums of the Paris region between this Friday and Sunday.

The strikes disrupted the end of this week, but good habits do not change and sport continues to delight young and old.

Le Parisien offers a selection of issues before each weekend and details the events not to be missed in Île-de-France.

Overview.

Players to watch: Doucouré and Mc Callum as reinforcements in Nanterre

BASKETBALL (1)

An unreal black series!

Since the start of the season Nanterre has had to deal with an incredible massacre of injured people.

Eight players in the professional workforce (out of 10) have already been arrested for varying lengths of time due to physical glitches.

The last three of this long list are the winger Rion Brown (finger), stopped until March, the interior Hans Vanwijn (ankle) and the point guard Justin Bibbins (wrist), centerpiece of the game and absent until to "April 7 minimum" according to the club.

To make up for these absences, Nanterre, which is only two steps ahead of the red zone at the start of the return phase, recruited two players this week: the experienced American fullback Ray McCallum (31), drafted in 2013 by the Sacramento Kings, signed until the end of the season.

After a successful exercise at Gravelines last season, he has been playing since the start of the season in Poland.

Malian winger Sadio Doucouré (30) will wear the Nanterre jersey for 2 months as Rion Brown's medical freelancer.

Without a club since the end of his contract at Fos last summer, the native of Corbeil-Essonne returns to the Ile-de-France region after an express stint with Les Metropolitans 92 in 2019. The two players will make their debut in their new colors on Saturday during the Dijon reception.

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The poster of the weekend: Paris Basketball faces Asvel at the Accor Arena

BASKETBALL (2)

It is one of the main events combining sport and entertainment this weekend.

Three days after the stars of the NBA - and the match between Detroit and Chicago - it's the turn of the players of Paris Basketball to pose their dribbles under the floodlights of the Accor Arena.

Candidate for a ticket to join the Euroleague, the capital club welcomes Asvel, one of the two ambassadors of French basketball in the prestigious European competition, for the shock of the 18th day of Betclic Elite.

A great opportunity for fans of the big orange ball to see the skill of Nando de Colo's game against the firepower of the Parisians, led by a triplet of French internationals (Toupane, Kamagate and Bégarin).

Apart from the sporting duel, the club of the capital will also propose many animations (cheerleaders, DJ, etc.) around the American culture.

A way to celebrate the NBA game that marked the week.

A jersey contest – spectators are invited to come with the jerseys of the 30 NBA teams – will be offered to the public, “with gifts at the key” specifies the club.

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The number: 7

VOLLEY

Like the number of consecutive defeats of Paris Volley against Tours in Ligue A before the reunion between the two sacred monsters of French volleyball this Friday at the Salle Charpy.

We have to go back to the 2018-2019 season to find the trace of the Parisians' last victory during the "classic" of the French championship.

Club clubs have accumulated 17 French championship titles since the beginning of the century.

To reverse the trend, the Parisians, who have not lost since November on their land, can count on the firepower of their sharp Ibrahim Lawani, author of 32 points against Nice last Saturday.

The challenge of the weekend: Racing will need a feat

RUGBY.

An improbable feat, or the door.

"In unfavorable tie" in the words of its coach Laurent Travers, Racing 92 still has a small hope of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions Cup.

But for that, he will have to win on Saturday (4:15 p.m.) on the lawn of Leinster in Dublin.

Reigning European vice-champions, the Irish are averaging seven tries per game in the competition and swept the Racingmen (42-10) in the first leg in December.

In short, the first European elimination of Racing in pool since 2019 seems very close.

Conversely, Stade Français is close to the round of 16 of the European Challenge.

The Parisians travel to Italy, on the lawn of Treviso, to ratify the affair.

The discovery: the fighting cane

Want originality?

Do you like fencing and/or boxing?

The fighting cane may be for you.

If you want to know more, just go this weekend to the 19th edition of the “Titis Parisiens”, the main mixed team competition, at the Léo-Lagrange sports center in the 12th arrondissement (from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

Born in France two centuries ago, this discipline initially aimed at self-defense brings together several thousand licensees, is part of the French Federation of Savate Boxe Française and Associated Disciplines.

It's a mix between fencing and French boxing, an ambidextrous sport where the shooters link blows, jumps, lunges, twirls, dodges and parries in creative series.

The competitions are practiced in the form of an assault in several rounds where the two shooters face each other, dressed in protections in a circle 9 meters in diameter and seek to win by putting the most hits on their opponent.

The shooters use conical and blunt chestnut wood weapons, measuring 95 cm for a mass of approximately 110 grams.

She is holding on to one hand.

Les Titis Parisiens is the only competition where the scores of the assaults are displayed in real time on giant screens.

Thus, the public can better understand the evolution of the confrontation on the 3 or 4 simultaneous assaults.

It is finally the 1st edition including shooters in wheelchairs (valid or not).

For the occasion, wheelchair cane training will be offered to all participants.

To see the next stars: the NBA Academy in exhibition

BASKETBALL (3).

An NBA Academy U-16 selection team made up of prospects from NBA Academy Latin America, NBA Academy Africa and NBA Global Academy is in Paris and the region to participate in exhibition matches against teams of European clubs.

As part of the competition program, the NBA Academy team will play against the U17 team of Le Mée (France) this Saturday (Albert-Camus gymnasium, 5:30 p.m.), and the U18 team of Nanterre on January 23,