The continued success of the Spanish women's national team programme is beginning to pay off for the popularity of basketball in a country which has long been at the forefront of men's hoops.

Spanish basketball is most commonly associated with Pau Gasol, one of the best national teams in the world and the ACB.

		841,000 television viewers watched Amaya Valdemoro lead Spain to victory

However, in recent years the women's game has received a huge boost on the back of Spain's success internationally.

In 2003 Spain stunned Poland in the EuroBasket bronze medal game, overcoming a double digit defecit to win their second consecutive medal at the event (they also claimed bronze in 1999).

Not only did that victory give them the kudos of being one of Europe's top sides, it qualified them to the 2004 Olympic Games.

In 2005 Spain are again a medal favourite and the nation was gripped during their thrilling encounter with Russia on Sunday night.

841,000 viewers tuned into TVE to watch their team beat Russia in a fantastic game of basketball which was not decided until overtime.

So far an average of 600,000 television viewers have watched Spain's three EuroBasket Women games, a sign that the sport's rising popularity.

In comparison, an average of 511,000 people saw the Spanish men's national team recent home friendly games against Serbia & Montenegro and Germany.

Those numbers will surely rise considerably once Spain begin their EuroBasket 2005 quest in Serbia & Montenegro on 16th September, but for the moment and in terms of popularity, women's basketball is the only game in town.