Yulia Anikeeva Elected President of Russian Basketball Federation

August 5, 2013

Yulia Anikeeva has been elected as President of the Russian Basketball Federation (RBF) following a meeting of its Executive Committee, buy becoming the first woman to head the federation.

Anikeeva has been acting-President of the federation since June following the resignation of Andrei Krasnenkov after a series of disagreements with members of the Executive Committee.

Anikeeva, who is additionally Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the VTB United League, first challenge as president will be to handle the situation which ousted her predecessor involving the VTB United League.

The VTB United League, a nine-nation competition between Eastern and Northern Europe’s leading basketball clubs, was the epicentre of the fall-outs between Krasnenkov and the RBF. Krasnenkov refused to crown a Russian basketball champion through the VTB United League as opposed to the Russian Professional Basketball League (RPBL), halting the VTB League’s ambitions for Euroleague qualification.

Furthermore, Krasnenkov’s introduction and enforcement of a fine for RPBL teams that break a six-man foreign player quota had irked members of the RBF’s Executive Committee.

Anikeeva beat out her nearest competition from Olympian and former Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) champion Svetlana Abrosimova for the presidency, 97 votes to 34.