25th memorial veterans tournament in commemoration of Nikolay Bagley took place from 20 to 22 of November 2015 in Kyiv. Twelve teams from Ukraine, Lithuania and Moldova honored the memory of Nikolay Bagley who was an outstanding Ukrainian basketball player, master of sports of the international class.

  Nikolay has been a basketball player since his childhood. As talented sportsman he was invited to the Ukrainian national basketball team at the age of 16. He was a champion of Universiade-1959 in Turin, Italy and a champion of Universiade-1961 in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the line-up of USSR national team he won gold medal in European Championship–1965 in Moscow and silver medal of Olympic Games-1964 in Tokyo, Japan. In the national USSR league N. Bagley was silver and bronze medal-winner many times with the Stroitel team, Kyiv. He died in the 1991st year at the age of 54. All his life Nikolay Bagley was driven by a passion for basketball. He dedicated personal contribution to the basketball development in Ukraine.

Now Bagley Tournament is a big holiday for veterans. At this tournament they enjoyed communication with basketball friends. Senior athletes will never forget their sporting relationships and bonds. These sportsmen were feeling lucky to have been here and compete. The spirit of competition and camaraderie characterizes the Bagley Tournament. The tournament gives to participants the confidence that competitive sport can continue throughout life regardless of age. Basketball game is not only extraordinary exciting, but also extraordinary healthy. Maxibasketball players prepare to the competition with hard work and discipline. They compete in order to push their limits and develop mind, body and spirit. During trainings and competitions veterans continue quest for sporting excellence and for the achievement of quality outcomes. They are innovators in world basketball, not just imitators of NBA professional players. At this tournament veterans showed once again that age was just a number and Maxibasketball was a way to wellness, longevity and ongoing self-improvement.

Participants competed in M50+, M55+ and M65+ age categories. For the first time in the history of Ukrainian maxibasketball the national team of Ukraine M70+ took part in the tournament, competing in M65+ group. The team consisted of senior players aged 70 years and older. The national team of Ukraine M70+ was registered as participant of upcoming FIMBA European Maxibasketball Championship-2016 in Novi Sad, Serbia.

AMICO, Nikolaev played in M55+ age bracket though average age of its team members equaled to 63 years.

In the first tournament’s day AMICO met Kyiv team. AMICO got into rhythm right from the opening minute and built a six-point advantage 18:12 in the first period by 8 points from Shneyder and 6 points from Zhukov. In Kyiv’s 12 points Prozhogin contributed his 10 points. During the second quarter Kyiv reduced the halftime margin to 3 points, 29:32. Shneyder delivered 6 points, Berezhinskiy produced 5 points for AMICO. Prozhogin responded with 9 points for Kyiv. In the third frame Kyiv increased its pressure on AMICO and in hard fight trimmed the deficit to one point, 43:44. In this period Berzhinskiy collected 6 points and Petrov hammered 4 points for AMICO. Prozhogin nailed 5 points and Vyyun scored 4 points for Kyiv.

 In the second day of the tournament AMICO competed with a rugged Salilita team from Vilnius, Lithuania. Salilita took a revenge for its loss from AMICO at the same tournament last year. Salilita overpowered AMICO 56:48.

In the last day of the tournament AMICO confronted Krivoy Rog team headed by famous top sports manager Sergey Burachevskiy (Balu) and captain Victor Yakubovskiy.

The first period passed in equal strife with 2-point AMICO’s advantage 16:14. After the second quarter Krivoy Rog entered into the halftime break with a 30:29 lead. In the third frame AMICO sparked with a 19:6 run and built a double-digit margin 48:36. In the final stanza Krivoy Rog made an attempt to change the things and took a 19:13 advantage. But it was not enough to get a win. AMICO declared their victory 61:55. Berezhinskiy had a game-high 25 points. Petrov and Zhukov scored 19 and 10 points respectively for AMICO. Podkolzin hit 18 points and Bondarenko grabbed 14 points for Krivoy Rog.

 The Salilita team Vilnius, Lithuania deservedly won the first place in M55+ age bracket. In this group Kyiv team took the second place, AMICO received the third place.

The Veteran team Kyiv, Ukraine sat at the top of group M50+ standings.

In M65+ division the Statiba team Vilnius, Lithuania earned the first position.

The veterans have gained much from their participation in the tournament, whether or not they won medals, and look forward to the next sporting year.