Christmas Tournaments

Ukrainian Maxibasketball players Elena Zhukova from MBC “AMICO” Nikolayev City, Tatiana Movchan from Kyiv’s “Ladies’ Legion” team, and Tatiana Yasicheva from “Carpathian Bears” team, Mukachevo took part in the FIMBA Christmas tournament in Milan on December 24-25, 2018. They played in the united “FIMBA- Europe” team’s line-up. Also representatives from Germany, Estonia, Russia, Turkey were in this team. Their rivals were the national teams of Italy, Latvia and Russia. The level of competition was very solid. United “FIMBA- Europe” team deservedly won first place.

The event was attended by FIMBA President Ruben Rodriguez Lamas. The tournament organizers provided a comfortable atmosphere and all conditions for time to chat for the participants and guests of honor. In spare time there was a lot of companionship and excursions around the beautiful Milan. Also at the same time Elena Zhukova as a member of the FIMBA International Women Committee met with colleagues to discuss female Maxibasketball development issues.

During Christmas, fabulously beautiful Milan created a festive atmosphere and a good mood. The tournament participants were delighted with the sights of Milan such as: the famed Duomo, one of the largest Gothic churches in Italy with a golden statue of the Virgin Mary; La Scala Opera House and the theater's museum; Giuseppe Verdi road, a street lined with antique shops and stores selling professional products for fine arts.

12th Christmas tournament took place from January 10 to January 13 of 2019 in Mukachevo, Ukraine. The tournament was held with the assistance of the Union of Veterans of Basketball of Ukraine. Ukrainian teams from Odessa, Nikolayev, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Krivoy Rog, Poltava, Uzhgorod, Lviv, Drohobych, and the teams from Latvia and Slovakia came to visit the hosts of the tournament in Mukachevo. Ten women’s teams and ten men’s teams took part in this tournament.

United Odessa-Nikolayev team competed in F40+ age category with “Carpathian Bears” (Mukachevo), “Ladies’Legion” (Kyiv), Kharkiv team, Poltava team, and Presov team from Slovakia. In United Odessa-Nikolayev team, the city of Nikolayev was represented by Elena Zhukova, Yevgenia Tregubova, Marina Mityayeva and Olga Bannyh. At this tournament “Carpathian Bears” won the Champion’s title. “Ladies’ Legion” team earned the 2nd place. Odessa-Nikolayev team ranked third. Odessa-Nikolayev team’s players were very pleased with the results of the tournament, as their opponents “Carpathian Bears” (Mukachevo) and “Ladies’Legion” (Kyiv), were world-class teams. These teams had won medals from bronze to gold on World and European competitions of higher level. Masters of Sports, Masters of Sports of International category, Honored Master Masters of Sports were in the team’s line-up.

After the end of the tournament’s competitions at the meeting of the Union of Veterans of Basketball of Ukraine the results of 2018 were summed up, the calendar of games of 2019 was discussed. The meeting participants noted the active work of Ukrainian Maxibasketball clubs in 2018 and wished them great success in the new 2019.

According to tradition, the hosts of the tournament organized a party for the guests. It was a real Maxibasketball holiday. Tournament participants were able to chat with new and old friends from other teams. These were sincere conversations of friends in a spirit of camaraderie.

One of the highlights of this tournament was the final round of negotiations of the Organizing Committee for the creation of the women's united team of Ukraine in order to successfully participate in the next 15th FIMBA World Maxibasketball Championship, which would take place from July 25 to August 4, 2019, in Finland. At the meeting of the Organizing Committee this proposal was approved. As a FIMBA representative in Ukraine Elena Zhukova registered “Ukraine United” team in women’s F45+ age division. This was done in advance, because there were so many teams willing to participate in the World Championship, and it may happen that not all teams will be able to take part in the event. The registration process for the World Championship has begun and Ukrainian organizers have a lot of work with registering participants, booking transport tickets and booking accommodation. To prepare for the World Cup organizers previously scheduled the participation of the united team in the tournament in commemoration of Professor Michael Alexandrov in Nikolayev on April 5-7, 2019 and Kaunas FIMBA World League on April 22-27, 2019.

Now Ukrainian male and female Maxibasketball has reached the world level. Ukrainian veterans opened direct path to fulfilling their highest possibilities in World Maxibasketball movement. Now they are competing on equal with the world's most elite athletes. They want not just to win, but to be the absolute best and challenge even the most advanced teams around the world.