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Photo: SIPA – Scanpix
SIPA Photo – Scanpix
Russian legend Andrei Kirillenko was recently re-elected as president of the new basketball federation and now looks with ambition to the future of the country in the sport.
Andrei Kirilenko
| Position: | PF, SF |
| Years: | 39 |
| Height: | 206 cm |
| Weight: | 98 kilograms |
| Place of birth: | Izhevsk, Russia |
In conversation with the country’s media, the former basketball player mentioned the old days as an example for young players and revealed that Russia will continue to count on veterans in the next selection for the European Championship.
“We want to build a generation of players who will compete at a high level for a long time. Like the current generation of basketball players. Let’s remember how the team played with Anton Ponkrasov, Vitaly Fridzon, Andrejs Voroncevičius, Nikita Kurbanov and others. We will continue to trust veterans in the next team, but the new generation has the opportunity to reach that level, “Kirilenka told Russian media.
Speaking more about basketball in Russia, Kirilenka was reprimanded by a journalist for making the sport more popular in other European countries. However, the former NBA player did not want to agree with that and gave the example of Lithuania and Serbia.
“You know, people always give me the example of Lithuania, saying that it is a basketball country,” said the president of the Russian Basketball Federation. – But tell me at least one player besides Jonas Valančiūnas, who has remained stable in the NBA and was raised in a Lithuanian basketball school, not an American one.
Well, let’s talk about Serbia. Basketball is definitely the number one sport there, but they have another problem: no player from the men’s and women’s teams is represented in basketball clubs in their country. “
For the last time, the Russian men’s basketball team won awards in international competitions at the 2012 London Olympics, where it ranked third.
Kirilenka, who played in the NBA for 12 seasons, ended her career as a basketball player in 2015.
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