Designs of arenas for EuroBasket 2015 to be presented soon, says Basketball Federation president
The designs of arenas that will host the matches of the EuroBasket 2015 European Basketball Championship will be presented at the end of this year or early in 2013.
"The project for the arena in Kyiv has been prepared already. The arena will host the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, the land and communications are ready. Construction will begin in March. The designs of the arenas in Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Lviv are being finished; and the design of a sports complex in Donetsk is nearing completion. A meeting of the organizing committee, where everybody will see the designs of the arenas, will take place at the end of the year or early next year," President of the Basketball Federation of Ukraine Oleksandr Volkov said during the Federation's board meeting on Monday.
He noted that the construction of an 18,000-seat arena in Kyiv will be financed from private funds and will be based on the designs of the sports palace in Kaunas, Lithuania, which hosted the decisive matches of EuroBasket in 2011. Sports complexes with 6,000 seats are to be built in Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and Lviv, and an 8,000-seat arena is to be built in Donetsk.
Volkov said that they would start active work on the organization of EuroBasket 2015 at the beginning of 2013.
During its meeting, the board also approved a decision to establish a local organizing committee for EuroBasket 2015. UEFA Euro 2012 Tournament Director in Ukraine Markiyan Lubkivsky was approved as the head of the EuroBasket 2015 organizing committee.
"We hope that all the experts who were involved in the Euro 2012 local organizing committee will work on the organization of EuroBasket 2015, and the organizing committee will be lead by Markiyan Lubkivsky, who has extensive experience and knowledge," Volkov said.
Volkov also said that the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, which Kyiv will host in summer of 2013, would be a small test before EuroBasket 2015.
"We must provide 16 teams with transport, hotels, and gyms. This will be a small test of how Ukraine can host international competitions. I believe that Ukraine will cope with it well," he said.
The federation's board meeting also decided that U.S. manager Mike Fratello will continue to coach the men's basketball team of Ukraine, and Vadym Chechuro the women's team.
