From October 13 to 19, St. Petersburg hosted the Russian Basketball Championship for men and women under 22.

At the Vladimir Kondrashin Basketball Academy court, youth teams from Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Luhansk People's Republic, and the Rostov, Belgorod, Kemerovo, and Chelyabinsk regions competed for the title of the strongest.

Six men's teams and four women's teams competed in the tournament, which lasted five competition days.

At the grand opening ceremony, all participants and guests were warmly welcomed by Dmitry Rebrov, President of the All-Russian Sports Federation of Sports of the Deaf; Yevgeny Gagonin, First Deputy Chairman of the St. Petersburg Administration Committee for Physical Culture and Sports; Valery Diev, Director of the aforementioned Basketball Academy; and Vladimir Kuznetsov, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Regional Branch of the Sports Federation of Sports of the Deaf.

In his address, Federation President Dmitry Rebrov expressed gratitude to all the organizers who actively participated in the event's preparation. He wished the athletes good luck and unforgettable memories of this city on the banks of the Neva River.

The opening ceremony was graced by performances from the artistic group "Petersburg Lexema," led by Lyudmila German. They opened with the Russian National Anthem and followed with the pieces "Gymnastics" and "Dedication to Petersburg."

The men's competition followed a round-robin format, while the women, in addition to a group stage, battled for a place in the playoffs and finals. In the dramatic final match, the Belgorod region team defeated the Moscow team, securing the title of the strongest team for the second time. In the junior (men's) tournament, the capital team convincingly took first place in the round-robin standings without suffering a single defeat.

Match Results

Juniors (Women):

1st place - Belgorod Region

2nd place - Moscow

3rd place - St. Petersburg

Juniors (Men):

1st place - Moscow

2nd place - Kemerovo Region

3rd place - Rostov Region

At the closing and awards ceremony, in addition to team cups, medals, and diplomas for the winners and prize-winners, the best players also received memorable prizes.

Thus, the MVP (Most Valuable Player) prizes – titles awarded annually to the most valuable players – were given to Sofia Suslova (Belgorod Region) and Danil Melnikov (St. Petersburg).

The following players were awarded figurines as the best players of the symbolic All-Star Team based on the results of the tournament: Kirill Baturin (Rostov Region), Alexander Usov (Belgorod Region), Eduard Rylkov (Moscow), Nikolay Kuznetsov (Moscow), Arkady Stepanchenko (Kemerovo Region), Veronika Khomutyanskaya (LPR), Ksenia Zakharova (Belgorod Region), Alsu Guseva (Moscow), and Asya Tikhonova (St. Petersburg).

Alexander Vasilkov, Senior Coach of the Russian National Basketball Team:

"The Russian Under-22 Championship is very important and necessary competitions. We monitor many young players, see how they progress in their teams, how they show character, and what their roles are. In the summer, the main Russian national team held a training camp, and we invited young players to these camps to assess their capabilities alongside the core team. Many of them performed very well at these camps, and as a result, these guys played leading roles at the Russian Championship. I am very happy for the guys and thank their coaches for the work done. There is a plan for the development of the Russian national team and basketball in general. For young players, there is currently only one competition for those under 22. We plan to start competitions for children under 16 from next season. Thank you all, play basketball. 'Basketball is the best ball game!!!'"

Text: Nurlan Tazhigulov, Maria Mazhenina

Photos: Daria Fedorova, Sergey and Natalya Belyaevy, Nikolay Oparin, Maxim Chistov

Translation: Daria Kudelina