Entering the boards of the Riga Arena, this Wednesday (6 p.m.), for their Eurocup match against Bourg, some shivers will run down the spine of Oleksandr Lypovyy and Illya Sydorov. The two Ukrainians are part of the young adventure of the Prometey club, which since 2018 has represented the small urban municipality of Slobojanske, near Dnipropetrovsk (390 km south of kyiv). A region bruised since the outbreak of the Russian invasion in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
“Playing is a bit like an act of resistance”
Volodymyr Dubynsky, president and co-founder of Prometey
In Latvia, where their team has found refuge and is evolving sportingly – in the Championship combining Latvia and Estonia – the eyes and thoughts of the seven Ukrainian elements of the team (four internationals, the two cities plus Issuf Sanon and Denys Lukashov) will fly away for a moment to their native country. First in their group in the competition, on a series of eight successes – their last defeat dates back to December 6, at… Bourg (85-92) – the players of Prometey know that their meetings always go a little beyond the framework of the orange ball.
“Playing is a bit like an act of resistance”, confided in early January Volodymyr Dubynsky, president and co-founder of a club which, launched in 2018 in the second division, immediately reached the elite. On his decks today, we find the ex-Manceau and mad dunker DJ Stephens, as well as the former Gravelinois DJ Kennedy. Both, present before the war, returned when the club was able to reconstitute itself.
15,000 euros raised by Bourg for Ukraine
Which was not obvious a year ago. Two weeks before the start of hostilities, the management decided to move, as a preventive measure, its basketball and volleyball teams to the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Before, at the beginning of March, to withdraw from all competition, including the BCL. “Everything was becoming too complicated, if only to keep our foreign players, who could not be forced to stay, explains Dubynsky. We played two matches, and when I realized that my mind was elsewhere, with the families, the victims, we stopped everything. With my partner Pavlo Chukhno, we thought that our financial effort should go to the army, to defend our country. »
As the fighting intensifies, the management remains hopeful and remains in contact with Lithuania and Latvia, in particular through the (Latvian) coach of the Ukrainian selection Ainars Bagatskis, to study the hypothesis of a relocation. It will finally be Latvia, where all the staff, including coach Ronen Ginzburg, settles. The Federation and the country, in addition to various aids, grant Ukrainian players to be counted as “locals” in the workforce. “We understood that if we had the opportunity, we had to play, continue as if everything was normal, resumes the president of Prometey. Many of our players are part of the national team. We are like ambassadors. People should know that we are still part of Europe. It’s our way of perpetuating our culture and our values, of sending the message that we are still alive. »
A thwarted destiny that the visitor, Bourg-en-Bresse – already qualified in the round of 16 of the Eurocup, but who remains on four losses – has decided to actively support. During the first leg, the club launched a solidarity operation for Ukraine. President Julien Desbottes, who came to Latvia with 40 partners, mentions 15 to 20,000 euros raised for medical equipment and the purchase of electric generators in particular. “Beyond the amount, it was the message that mattered, he explains. Without getting involved in geopolitics, it’s a way of showing that we can, that we must be there for others, and that we don’t forget the drama being played out at home. They were very moved, and we were very touched in return. If sport can also be used for this kind of initiative…”