In an act at the headquarters of the financial institution

Bankia and Fundació per la Pilota present The Professional Leagues of raspall and escala i corda

• The financial institution sponsors Fundació per la Pilota in support of this Valencian sport

• The two championships, which start tomorrow in Genovés and on Saturday at the Pelayo court, double the number of games and the competition period, which now extends until the first half of April

• Bankia’s Corporate Regional Director in and Castellón, Jaime Casas, stressed that "in the entity we are committed to the promotion of pilota and the appreciation of its culture"

Valencia, 10/01/2019. The Bankia Professional Leagues, in their raspall and escala i corda modality, were presented this Thursday at the headquarters of the financial institution in Valencia.

The most relevant team competitions of the Valencian pilota , with the sponsorship of Bankia, will start this Friday with the 'Lliga Bankia de raspall - Trofeu Diputació de València' at the Genovés court, and the 'Lliga Bankia de scale i corda' will start on Saturday in the Pelayo court.

The Professional Leagues have been presented by Bankia’s Corporate Regional Director Valencia and Castellón, Jaime Casas; the vice president and spokesman of the Fundació per la Pilota, José María Cataluña, and the coordinator of the General Direction of Sports of the , Sebastià Giner. The Vice President of the Federació de Pilota Valenciana D'escala i Corda, Santiago Navarro, has also participated in the event.

The two competitions will take place at the same time and with the same format. This edition will have twice as many games in the normal stage, which will consist of 30 matches, ten per team.

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It is also a novelty that one stage will be completed each week. This way, all teams -and the ranking- will advance at the same pace in the championship.

Once the normal stage has concluded, the four teams with the best score will enter the semifinals, which will be played at home courts alternatively and on dates that will be determined at the end of the round. The final, as usual, will be a single game. The two competitions will end in the first half of April.

New scoring system

The scoring system will also change this season with the aim of increasing balance in the rankings. In this edition, victory will be awarded with 2 points and the losing team will have the possibility of adding 1 point if they reach game 50 (in the 'Lliga Bankia of Scale i Corda') and game 25 (in the 'Lliga Bankia de Raspall - Trofeu Diputació de València ').

In this new edition, the teams have also been formed with three people. The main reason is that it is deemed fairer that all the teams have the same number of players, since the effort required will be greater when competing for four months. It is also a way of making the sport of the Valencian Pilota more accessible to people who do not know it in depth and thus do not understand why a team of two faces a team of three.

All the members of the six teams of each mode have participated in the presentation, which has been conducted by Bankia’s Corporate Regional Director in Valencia and Castellón, Jaime Casas. Casas stressed that "there is true passion for the Valencian pilota in Bankia and, therefore, we are committed to the promotion of the game and the appreciation of its culture".

"This year, in addition to sponsoring the Lliga and the Individual competition in the male and female categories, this edition has been reformulated to become more appealing, recovering the 'roundtrip' in both the regular stage and the semifinals, so we can enjoy more games and more weeks of competition. Undoubtedly, this is good news for all the fans of this sport", said Casas.

Bankia renewed its sponsorship of both competitions in 2018, also extending its support to the women's championships with the sponsorship of the League and the Individual of Raspall .

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For his part, the vice president and spokesman of the Fundació per la Pilota, José María Cataluña, explained the changes and novelties and their reason in detail; while the representative of the Federació, Santiago Navarro, encouraged players to "enjoy themselves and make the audience enjoy the sport".

"Good news"

On behalf of the Generalitat, Sebastià Giner has stated that "2019 begins with a new way of working and the Generalitat wants to bet on this new formula to help the professional field to consolidate", he explained. In addition, he wanted to highlight the role of public television regarding pilota . "There will be a televised game each week and that will bring our sport to every home", he said.

The presentation has concluded with the intervention of the pilotaris . The six representatives of the teams of the Lliga Bankia of raspall , Marrahí, Moltó, Brisca, Sanchis, Seve and Pablo took the floor first. All of them agreed that the Lliga was good news. "The new model is appealing and it will undoubtedly make the Lliga more interesting", they underlined. "With teams of three and such a generous scoring system, the true champion will not become clear until April" they stated.

Finally, Pere, Puchol II, Pere Roc II, Genovés II, Soro III and Felix have shown their impressions with regard to the Lliga Bankia of scale i corda . According to them, this tournament has higher appeal for fans. “For viewers, it is much easier to follow the Lliga day after day thanks to the information and balance there is now", said the pilotaris . "Conducting the matches on weekends will give us a wider audience" they said.

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