Yuri Chesnokov
The 2013 youth European champions and hosts of Russia are set to play there NORCECA silver medalists Mexico, European silver medalists Poland, South American vice-champions Argentina as well as Serbia, the side that disappointingly finished eleventh at the European Championship held this past April in Beograd and Laktasi.
Though the schedule is very tight – with up to two matches a day – the tournament will run by sticking to all ordinary Volleyball rules, i.e. games will be played over five sets with the teams needing to win three to seal the deal. Russia’s national team coached by Alexander Karikov will include most of the players who won gold at the European Championship and namely Evgenii Andreev, Maxim Belogortsev, Nikita Vishnevetskiy, Ilia Vlasov, Alexander Goncharov, Roman Zhos, Maksim Novgorodov, Pavel Pankov, Victor Poletaev, Maxim Troynin, Kirill Ursov, and Nikolai Chepura.
A profile
Yuri Chesnokov, after whom the tournament is named, was a member of the Soviet national team for eleven years (1955-1964) and won gold at the Tokyo Games in 1964 where Volleyball debuted on the Olympic program. He was the head coach of the Soviet national team from 1970 up to 1976 and FIVB Vice President for 6 years (2002-2008).
Chesnokov was also at the helm of CSKA MOSCOW (1969-1976 and 1985-1987) as this club claimed the Soviet national league for ten times and seized five trophies in the European Cups. Under his guidance the Soviet national team won Olympic silver in 1972 and 1976 – losing the gold medal match to Japan and Poland respectively – as well as a silver medal at the 1974 World Championship in Mexico. The Soviet players won two European Championship gold medals (1971 and 1975) by the time they were mentored by Chesnokov. He also briefly coached – for one season, in 1983/1984 – the women’s division of the CSKA MOSCOW Volleyball club.
A long-time (1976-2008) member of the FIVB Executive Committee and Board of Administration, Chesnokov was an FIVB Vice President in 1976-1992, 1994-1998 and 2002-2008. He also chaired the Volleyball Federation of the Soviet Union before the USSR collapsed in 1992 and was a Vice President of the Russian Volleyball Federation from 1996 to 1999. Chesnokov – who passed away in 2010 – was the very first non-American player or coach to be inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame, getting this distinction back in 2000. That same year he was awarded as “Sports Legend of the XX Century” by the Russian authorities.
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