Eremin about Sergei Belov: “I regret that we did not clarify our relationship during our lifetime. When I come to church, I sometimes ask him for forgiveness.

Former head coach of CSKA and the Russian national team Stanislav Eremin in an interview with , he said that he mentally asks for forgiveness from the former national basketball player of CSKA and the USSR Sergei Belov, with whom he did not have time to sort out his relationship during his lifetime.

Belov died in 2013. Eremin was the second coach of the Russian national team from 1997 to 1999. Together with head coach Belov, the specialist led the national team to the bronze medal at the European Championship in 1997 and silver at the World Championship in 1998.

— During your career as a player and coach, you often crossed paths with Sergei Belov. At the European Championships in 1997, you were his assistant in the Russian national team, and in 1999, as they wrote, you refused to work with Belov. Can you tell me if this is actually the case, and if so, why?

— Sergei Belov is a great basketball player, I consider him the best in the history of the USSR and an excellent coach. I had the chance to work with him. It seems to me that we worked well together, complementing each other, and the result is proof of that. Of course, our relationship had some difficult times. Sanych [Белов] I was quite jealous of my successes at CSKA. I thought I deserved better from him. There were people who fueled these moments.

After certain events, I said that I would no longer work for the national team. Naturally, Belov was offended. For a long time we just said hello to each other and didn’t broach the topic of our conversation. To be honest, I regret now that we did not clarify our relationship during Sergei Sanych’s lifetime. After all, we lived in the same room with him and played as a duo at CSKA, and in the national team I played under his leadership. In other words, they ate from the same plate. That’s why now, when I come to church, I sometimes ask for his forgiveness.

The same thing happened with Alexander Yakovlevich Gomelsky, to whom I owe my whole sports life. He invited me to CSKA, gave me a place in the military team and the national team, but last year he tried to remove me from the club. Maybe he was right then, but the main thing is that before he passed away, we clarified all our relationships. I was happy to learn that he then thought he was wrong,” Eremin said in an interview with .