Two students from the Institute of Physical Education and Sport, Vasiliy Berdnikov and Gleb Kokorin, who are also members of the University team (coached by Associate Professor Vladimir Ovchinnikov) are going to take part in the Russian 3x3-basketball championship for the 2020-2021 season.

On January 30 and 31, the first two rounds of the BetBoom Championship of Russia among men's and women's teams were held at the Olympic Hopes sports camp in Moscow. In total, 24 men's and 12 women's teams took part in the tournament

In the upcoming season, the main national tournament will be held in a new format, and the most serious changes will affect the men's championship. The regular season will consist of 16 one-day stages, combined into 8 tandems. This innovation will make each stage more dramatic. Depending on the places taken in the stages, all teams will receive points in the overall championship standings, according to which the participants of the final stage will be determined.

Gleb Kokorin will play in the combined team of the Kondrashin Olympic Basketball Training Centre in St Petersburg, which was established in 2016 by the Government of St Petersburg as a municipally funded sports institution.

Vasiliy Berdnikov will play as a member of the Gagarin Basketball Club, based in Moscow. This club serves as the center of the Russian national 3x3-basketball team. Thus, he is a candidate for the national team, which will participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and for the youth national team.

For your information: the Olympic debut of 3x3 basketball was supposed to take place last summer in Tokyo, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic the games were postponed until 2021, keeping the ‘2020’ prefix in the official title. As it is now planned, medals in 3x3 basketball will be vied for from July 24-28, 2021.