Victor Khryapa – League’s top Russian player

CSKA forward Victor Khryapa has been named the 2012/2013 VTB United League’s top Russian player. He received the award today in Moscow prior to Game 1 of the CSKA – Lokomotiv-Kuban Finals. VTB United League Deputy CEO Julia Anikeeva and Russian sports information agency R-Sport (RIA Novosti) editor Vasily Konov presented Khryapa with his prize.

The VTB United League inaugurated the award this season, recognizing the top player from each of the nine participant-countries in the League. The winners (determined by citizenship, not by team) were named at the end of the season. In the six countries with only one VTB United League club (Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Belarus, Czech Republic, and Kazakhstan), the winners were determined by a panel of League experts. The top Russian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian players were determined jointly by the League and leading sports media outlets in those countries – Russian information agency R-Sport (RIA-Novosti), Lithuanian website Basketnews.lt and Ukrainian website Basket-Planet.com.

The top Russian player was selected by panels of VTB United League and R-Sport (RIA Novosti) experts. CSKA forward Victor Khryapa came first in both rankings to beat out Khimki forward Sergey Monya and Khimki guard Vitaliy Fridzon.

Khryapa played 24 games this season (not counting the Finals), averaging 8.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He was twice named the top Russian player in the bimonthly rankings (October-November and December-January) and was key in helping CSKA advance to the VTB United League Finals.

Victor Khryapa is the eighth player to be honored. Petr Benda (Nymburk) of the Czech Republic, Tanel Sokk (Kalev) of Estonia, Aaron Cel (Turow) of Poland, Anton Ponomarev (Astana) of Kazakhstan, Vladimir Veremeenko (UNICS) of Belarus, Kristaps Janicenoks (VEF) of Latvia and Oleksiy Pecherov (Azovmash) of Ukraine have already received their awards.

How the League’s top Russian player was determined:

R-Sport experts:
1. Victor Khryapa (CSKA) – 3 points
2. Vitaliy Fridzon (Khimki) – 2 points
3. Sergey Monya (Khimki) – 1 point

League experts:
1. Victor Khryapa (CSKA) – 3 points
2. Sergey Monya (Khimki) – 2 points
3. Semen Antonov (Nizhny Novgorod) – 1 point

Totals:
1. Victor Khryapa (CSKA) – 6 points
2. Sergey Monya (Khimki) – 3 points
3. Vitaliy Fridzon (Khimki) – 2 points
4. Semen Antonov (Nizhny Novgorod) – 1 point

- Definitely, I'm very happy to receive this prize, - said Victor Khryapa in an interview with VTB-League.com. - However, I'd like to point out that any personal victory, is, first of all, a team victory. If not for my teammates, I wouldn't have this victory.