By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Ihor Oleksandrovych Zhdanov, the Ukrainian minister of Youth and Sports in the Yatsenyuk government tries to convince Alex Len to play for the Ukrainian national team via an open letter!
The center of the Suns has never played for the senior national team of Ukraine, but Zhdanov hopes that he will be available for the Eurobasket 2017 qualifying round. Here’s the text of the open letter.
Dear Alex!
Your skills won the hearts of many basketball fans in Ukraine. Young and adult players, coaches and fans followed your games in the strongest league in the world. The broadcast from Phoenix are a real treat for the fans that despite the late hour, enjoy your actions on the floor. In particular, the series of seven double-double in the recent matches of the NBA. And your successful performance against Golden State (26 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists) got applause not only in the stands of “Oracle Arena”, but also contributed into raising the moral of Ukrainian fans. Ukraine is now at the center of the world. The political and economic situation is difficult, but people need victories and thigs to cheer about, and who else, if not the sports heroes, can get those for them. Basketball in Ukraine due to the attention of the Ministry of Sports is on the rise. The state and the federation care about basketball. The recent league finish both in men’s Superleague and Women’s league captured everyone’s attention. A clear indication of positive changes for the better is the win of the women’s national team against the current European champs, the team of Serbia during the Eurobasket 2017 qualifiers.. Soon the turn of the men’s team will come to show their power during August 31 andSeptember 17 in the qualifying games for EuroBasket 2017.
I suggest you consider the proposal to play for the national team of Ukraine. Only when we are together, we are invincible!
Glory to Ukraine!