Ukraine seek solace and a pleasant distraction on the basketball court

MILAN (Italy) - In times of war, sport can seem like a trivial sideline.

Importance diminished, relative to the simple human wish for safety, and survival.

“It is a difficult time,” Ukraine’s captain at FIBA EuroBasket 2022, Artem Pustovyi, acknowledges.

“Basketball means a lot for the players, for the people who follow us. Because they must disconnect from what is happening enjoy this.

“But also it's helpful to us when we play basketball. When we go to the court, we also forget our problems, and we play the game we love.

If only briefly, the 30-year-old center signals. For months, principally at his home in Spain where he plays for UCAM Murcia, there have been tense waits for updates from his family who live an hour outside Kyiv.

Challenges, he relates, reside around every corner, each hour of the day and night. Half a continent away, their fate is constantly on Pustovyi’s mind.

“I talk with them every day,” he reveals. “But some days, they don't have a connection with internet or a line.

“Sometimes, I maybe wait one or two days to get an answer. But after, they always call me back to say that everything is ok, that I can relax.

"OUR FIRST GOAL IS TO GET OUT OF THE GROUP AND AFTER THAT, TO GO AS FAR AS WE CAN"

 
“But it's also hard because I think every day about them. Because you never know what can happen tomorrow or next hour.

“It's really dangerous there. But they don't want to leave their home and my grandmother is there and she cannot leave.”

The center, like so many teammates based overseas, has done what he can from afar. Aiding friends who are shipping clothes and vital supplies which will become ever more valuable as winter nears.

In Murcia, he has been gratified with those who have approached him to ask what they might do.

“There’s so many people from Spain who help Ukrainians, people who bring kids into families, who help women to leave Ukraine and give them a job or an apartment ... it’s a really big help for us in this hard time.”

Alex Len (pictured) and Artem Pustovyi form an enviable tandem  at the 5 spot 

And yet, in Milan, basketball will consume their attentions as Ukraine attempt to repeat their advance to the Last 16 from the previous EuroBasket of 2017 where their run was ended by eventual champions, Slovenia.

The bonds formed between them over this summer on the road have been tightened by shared experience. “We will stay close to each other,” Pustovyi underlines.

Nine members of the Ukrainian roster are first-timers at Europe’s championships, meshed together by experienced Latvian head coach Ainars Bagatskis with the availability of two NBA players in Alex Len and Svi Mykhailiuk strengthening his hand.

Around them are fresh legs, who can run and run. “Young players who give us a lot of fresh energy on the court,” their pivot, who may occasionally form a twin tower with Len, notes.

“[Young people] Who have big ambitions to battle on court - it's helped us a lot. So now we can play faster basketball.”

A valuable extra option when their opening group contains the established powers of Italy, Greece and Croatia as well as Estonia and Friday’s initial opponents, Great Britain.

“This is a big challenge for us,” Pustovyi underlines. “Our first goal is to get out of the group. And after that, to go as far as we can.

“But it's also a great chance to show our basketball, how we can play against these really strong teams, against big stars in the world.”

FIBA