Basketball
See also: 2015 EuroBasket See also: Ukraine national basketball teamBesides football, a major sport in the Ukraine is basketball. Ukrainian basketball players were among the decisive factors for the success of the USSR national basketball team, which dominated Europe for decades and at times dominated the global basketball scene as well. These players included most notably Alexander Belostenny, Anatoli Polivoda, Vladimir Tkachenko and Alexander Anatolyevich Volkov and others. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, especially the Ukrainian club teams BC Kyiv and BC Azovmash gained international attention as they both reached the FIBA EuroCup finals in 2005 and 2007 respectively. The Ukraine national basketball team slowly but surely has made a name among elite competition in Europe. Its hopes are up for the 2015 European Basketball Championship on home soil.
When in 2012, the country gained official confirmation to host the 2015 European Championship, basketball received major public boost in the Ukraine. Host cities will be Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lions, Odessa and Kharkiv. Several arenas will be renovated for the occasion. This major international sporting event has the slogan: "We are ready!" and points to the experience of the country, which was received in preparation for the European Football Championship 2012. As Oleksandr Volkov, president of the Ukrainian Basketball Federation pointed out that the country’s experience in hosting an event of such magnitude came through the mentioned football championships. This displays the readiness of Ukrainian infrastructure and had become a decisive factor for the selection of the Ukraine.
On February 9, 2012 the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych issued a decree that instructed the government to create a "Organizing Committee on preparation and holding in Ukraine Euro 2015 basketball Championship" (committee is headed by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov)
Many facilities necessary for the EuroBasket 2015 (roads, airports, hotels, etc.) have been built in preparation for the European Football Championship in 2012, which significantly reduces the cost of the basketball event.
In general, the teams of the Ukrainian basketball league are strong enough to make it into the Eurocup basketball championship. The top Ukrainian League is called the Ukrainian Basketball Super League. The next top league is called the Vyscha Liha. The next strongest league is called the Persha Liha.
Read more about this topic: Sport In Ukraine
Famous quotes containing the word basketball:
“Perhaps basketball and poetry have just a few things in common, but the most important is the possibility of transcendence. The opposite is labor. In writing, every writer knows when he or she is laboring to achieve an effect. You want to get from here to there, but find yourself willing it, forcing it. The equivalent in basketball is aiming your shot, a kind of strained and usually ineffective purposefulness. What you want is to be in some kind of flow, each next moment a discovery.”
—Stephen Dunn (b. 1939)