Egyptian Revenge: how Russian basketball players performed internationally

The Russian national basketball team takes convincing revenge on Egypt by winning the second game in Giza with a score 94:67 ("+27"). This was largely made possible by the return of Anton Kvitkovsky, Anton Kardanakhishvili and Vladislav Yemchenko to the squad. They scored 44 points on three of them. In total, Zoran Lukic's team played four games in July and August, and the young players gained invaluable experience in international matches. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

We found solutions

In the context of the suspension of Russian basketball national teams from participating in international competitions under the auspices of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) This summer, the RFB carried out high-quality work on the effective search for sparring partners. The women's national team played friendly matches with Serbia (one match), Slovenia (two) and Turkey (two). Men's — with Iran and Egypt (two games each). The reserve teams played their matches against Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Belarus, Armenia and Switzerland. It is important to understand that we are talking about the top basketball teams, which include the Serbs, Slovenes and Turks.

"I think that the name of Andrei Kirilenko and the personal relationship between Sergei Moni and Natalia Vodopyanova, who left the Russian Federation, play a role here," Vladimir Dyachok, Executive Director and General Secretary of the Russian Federation, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — At the FIBA Congress in Qatar, Andrey held dozens of personal meetings with representatives of federations from different countries, and personal contact is very important. Sergey Monya has been working very hard in his field over the past six months and is almost always on field trips with the national teams. Natalia Vodopyanova spoke with representatives of the Slovenian Federation at the FIBA Europe Assembly. I think that playing with the team of this very strong basketball country is largely her merit. The International Department is constantly in communication with representatives of national federations from different countries, and the managers of the national teams department are efficiently working out the trips of our teams to Armenia, Serbia, Turkey, Hungary and Egypt.

In total, our teams will play 31 friendly games this spring and summer (on August 9 and 10, the U–16 women's reserve team will play two matches with their Serbian peers in Banja Kovilac). For comparison, in 2023, all teams had 16 friendly matches with foreign national teams, in 2024 - 11.

— At the moment, the Russian Football Federation, like many of our other colleagues from other federations, is experiencing a shortage in international tournaments for obvious reasons, — said Andrey Kirilenko, the head of the Russian Football Federation. — But we are finding solutions, we are doing a tremendous job so that all our national teams, from the reserve to the national team, receive this experience. First of all, it is necessary to determine our strengths, to understand in which direction we are moving. Many of our guys, especially the young ones, have never played at the international level at all. This year, I wanted to go beyond the usual international meetings, expand the boundaries, and, in my opinion, it worked. The result of the matches was not put at the forefront, I wanted to get an objective assessment of where we are now, what our level is.

Correct permutations

If we talk about the national teams, the women beat Slovenia twice, lost to Turkey twice, and the match with Serbia was held behind closed doors (the result was not announced). The Russian men's national team held training camps in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, and played the first matches in Khimki with the Iranian national team. On July 29, Zoran Lukic's team lost with a score of 67:70. Mohammad Amini scored the decisive three-pointer 1.7 seconds before the end of the fourth quarter.

Two days later, the Russians took a convincing revenge (79:58). Anton Kvitkovskikh and Maxim Barashkov scored 13 points each, Alexander Chadov and Mikhail Belenitsky scored eight points each, and team debutant Vsevolod Ishchenko scored seven points.

"The first game was exciting, unlike the opponent, we played for the first time after a long break," Timofey Gerasimov, captain of the Russian national team, told Izvestia. — Before the second match, the coach made changes in the squad, slightly changed tactics. We watched the video and gave a little more aggression in defense. They cheated somewhere. The most important thing is that we scored open shots. Everything was fine with the implementation, that's the result.

The national team flew to Egypt without two of the most experienced players of this convocation, the current champions of the United league in CSKA — Ivan Ukhov and Alexander Gankevich. Perhaps this factor has played a cruel joke on us. Lukic's team confidently led "+10" in the opening of the fourth quarter, but failed to finish the match (80:73). Perhaps only 19-year-old Zakhar Lavrenov, who scored 10 points and four rebounds, deserved warm words.

— In general, we played very good basketball for 35 minutes, Unfortunately, the last five minutes, when our opponent changed the defense system, turned out to be a failure. We lost control of the situation, losing it 18-2. This was the decisive factor. Moreover, we knew that they could use the zone protection option. We sorted it out in training. It's a big disappointment for me as a coach. Zone defense works if you don't hit open shots, you lose confidence. Sometimes it happens. But this is a national team, the best basketball players in the country should not allow themselves to play like that.

Lukic had a serious conversation with the team and brought Anton Kvitkovskikh, Anton Kardanakhishvili and Vladislav Yemchenko back to the squad. The last two became the heroes of the first quarter, scoring 5 points each (20:16). In the second quarter, we managed to build on the success due to the efforts of Ishchenko and especially Kvitkovsky, who scored 8 points in 10 minutes (49:34).

A minute before the end of the third quarter, the Russians' advantage increased to 23 points after Alexander Chadov's long-range shot. The hosts were unable to organize a second comeback in a few days, eventually losing heavily to our team.

— The Egyptian national team was unfamiliar to us, so after the first game, the guys had an understanding of who to expect threats from, — said Vladimir Dyachok. — And, of course, it was striking that our players came out with a more serious mood. The defeat in the first game was a good lesson, everyone wanted to rehabilitate themselves. Plus, the coaching plan for the game was strictly followed, it was clear with what diligence everyone played defense. Therefore, this is the result.

According to Izvestia, this is not the end of the work in the international field. It is highly likely that the Russian national women's national team will play a series of meetings with colleagues from Hungary in the fall.