By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
The situation in Ukraine has consequences even in basketball. Eurohoops already reported the mass exodus of players, however today it was officially announced that a team from Ukraine, BC Donetsk, due to the situation in the country is withdrawn from VTB United league, a regional league consisting from teams mainly from former Soviet Union countries.
The text of the press release is the following: “The VTB United League Directorate met today and reviewed a letter from Ukrainian club Donetsk, in which the club gave official notice that it does not have the ability to continue its participation in the current championship. Based on the received information, the extremely unstable political and economic situation in the country influenced the club’s day-to-day affairs. The team’s foreign players have left, as well as its leading Ukrainian players, and it is not possible to guarantee the safety of teams that would travel to Donetsk for games”.
The last three season games of Donetsk are forfeited, so Nizhny Novgorod, Lokomotiv Kuban and Unics Kazan have already won by 20-0. In a funny coincidence, all three winners are Russian clubs.