Last week men’s national collected team of Belarus held three friendly matches with Ukrainians. The captain and leader of our force Yegor MESHCHERYAKOV took part only in the final game: the forward of Petersburg’s Spartak is far from optimal conditions. However, it is doubtless that in the forthcoming matches of the championship of Europe in Division B which will resume in the second half of August, Meshcheryakov will take the lead by tradition.

— Yegor, how do you feel?

— Thanks, all is normal. I have recovered, even suntanned a bit (Laughingly).

— You didn’t play in the first two matches with Ukrainians …

— It’s just that the collected team numbers almost twenty people. Naturally, the training staff has to check the boys, to try various options. The more so because some have been working since July 2, and I came relatively not long ago.

— Was Ukraine a proper rival at the first stage of preparation to the qualifying cycle of the championship of Europe, or are you not free to choose in our real environment?

— The Southern neighbors are a good opponent. To my mind, the Ukrainian championship is making progress. Last season they had a split, and two championships were played simultaneously. Now they are uniting again. A league will comprise at least sixteen teams. As to the Ukrainian collected team, it is already in early August that it will have to struggle for survival in Division A. That is why in the previous sparrings our Southern neighbors had a certain advantage in physical readiness. But still, the matches turned out interesting, hard, and, I think, the spectators were not disappointed.

— Vladimir Veremeyenko is not in the team now. Part of fans even believe that he has no more desire to play for the collected team …

— I only know that Vladimir is waiting for an addition to his family. In such situation each man would want to be near his beloved one. Also there was information that Veremeyenko had a surgery on a finger.

— But do you expect him to play official games?

— The door to the collected team is open for him. For we don’t have so many skilled players of Vladimir’s level. In the previous season he looked excellent in the team of Unics. The main thing is strong health.

— And for how long does Meshcheryakov plan to play for the national team? It’s not a secret that you come and actually play for …

— …The inscription on the T-shirt? You know, there’s only one homeland, and it is not chosen. I was brought up in Secondary Children’s and Youth’s School of Olympic Reserve 10. The trainers put their whole soul into me. So, always when I’m in good health, I will come and help our collected team. For which, I would like to believe, this summer is the last one when we are playing in Division B.

— And do you believe that our collected basketball teams will eventually have a normal gym, some stimulating remuneration?

— Yes, certainly. We all pin our hopes on the arrival of Viktor Kamenkov to the position of head of the federation. And it’s not for no particular reason that I’m saying that. People wait changes. Soon there should be the end to the deadlock. For over years the same problems were being talked about: gyms, salaries, training personnel, and such. All the same, we have good traditions, and the collected teams (especially concerning women’s force) do not take back seats in Europe.

— Does the team count on the reinforcement in the person of Dante Stiggers?

— For what I know, Dante has a desire to play for the collected team of Belarus. But, apart from obtaining citizenship of our country, Stiggers should have an approval of FIBA-Europe. So far, this organization appears not to have given an answer.

— What do you personally think of the naturalization of the American? According to the instructor of women’s collected team Anatoly Buyalsky, Meshcheryakov comes to Belarus, conducts master classes, visits orphanages, spending free time, and the play for the national team for him is one of the items of these philanthropic activities. Stiggers has to be brought to training sessions and returned back, provided with meals, his family should be given housing…

— A team’s chemistry is a very subtle point. It is in clubs also that any coach tries to find balance between foreign and local players. If Stiggers makes the team better, I think hardly anyone will be against his participation. But Dante has to be head and shoulders above Belorussian players of the respective role and, which is the main thing, to fall for balls, as everybody, to “grind” the field.
I was told that Stiggers was very emotional at the banquet celebrating the champion’s title of Minsk-2006. Almost in tears he was grateful to the club’s management, the guys for being so warmly welcome. For an American playing in Europe this is not a typical situation. Usually they don’t care, to put it mildly. Probably, our country has really “stirred” Dante. So, time will show: probably, he will be able to find a common language with the boys.

— Share your impressions of the previous club season.

— It turned out to be interesting. Above all, I must thank the Spartak main coach Yevgeny Pashutin. Despite the fact that I became part of the team a month and a half later than the others due to the playing for the national team, the instructor trusted me, counted on me as a leader. It was a great help. Other boys were also on excellent terms with Pashutin, therefore the atmosphere in the team was wonderful. Certainly, we surprised many people becoming one of the four best clubs by the results of the championship. But I think the success of Spartak is natural. Now we want to keep this achievement. Though, it will be difficult. It’s a pity Pashutin switched to Army’s Central Sports Club. Our team is not headed by a new specialist, Serb Trifunovich. Still, we shall try to play successfully and deservingly represent Russia in the European Cup.

— How did the world’s crisis affect Spartak?

— It has sidestepped Petersburg’s club. Spartak is financed by the companies directly related to Gazprom. Salaries were paid in time, all is normal. But generally the crisis had a serious impact on the Russian championship. In Army’s Central Sports Club the budget was curtailed, the financing of Moscow’s Dynamo has been considerably reduced, and a couple of clubs have ceased to exist at all. It seems, sooner or later the arms race engaged in by the Russian teams had to come to an end.

— Did you watch women’s EuroBasket?

— The girls are such a joy. They are brilliant, they perform in the most prestigious championships, they played in the Olympics. Though, I had an opportunity to watch only one match of the last championship of the continent, Belarus vs. Turkey. This game is said to have become the best one performed by our team. The girls demonstrated character and managed to get to the playoff. I know some had surgeries after the championship. It again underlines the fortitude of our female basketball players, their patriotism.

— Don’t they taunt you, for the gentler sex is a fixture in top contests, but our men …

— No, our girls are very kind and good (Laughingly). But the boys know what they should aspire to. All the more so, there is a graphic example. I hope we have everything ahead.

Andrey ZUBENKOV, Mikhail MOZAKOV


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