“Grudin knows that we are always there and ready to help him” – Korstin

General Director of VTB United League and former Russian national team basketball player Ilona Korstin Through the correspondent, she wished health to the former head coach of the national team, Igor Grudin, and also expressed her willingness to help him solve his health problems.

Earlier, Grudin, in an interview with , said that he had been fighting cancer for many years.

Grudin led the women’s national team from 1994 to 1995 and from 2004 to 2008. Under his leadership, the Russian team won gold, silver and bronze at the European Championships, became second at the Championships of world of 2006 and also won bronze medals at the 2008 Olympics. Grudin ended his coaching career in 2009. Currently, the 78-year-old specialist lives in France, where he is being treated for cancer.

— Igor Grudin is an iconic figure in women’s basketball and all Russian sports. His contribution to the successes of the women’s team in the early 2000s cannot be overestimated – with him we won gold at the European Championship, silver at the World Championship and bronze at the Olympics. Together with VBM-SSAU we became winners of the Euroleague and the Russian Championship.

Grudin is important and one of the best coaches of my career. We spoke with Igor Alexandrovich when we were preparing the book “Girls Like Stars”; a large separate chapter is devoted to him and his work. Personally, I was not able to give him the book and meet him, he explained to me that he now had health problems. The last time we talked was recently – we recalled the victory of the Russian team over the American team in 2006. There was a story about it on the Internet.

Igor Alexandrovich is a very good coach and a very good person, I wish him health, he knows that we are always here and ready to help him,” Korstin told .