Vladimir Veremeenko – League’s top Belarusian player

UNICS forward Vladimir Veremeenko has been named the VTB United League’s top Belarusian player in 2012/13. He received his award prior to Game 1 of the UNICS – Lokomotiv-Kuban quarterfinal series. VTB United League general director Andrey Shirokov and UNICS president Evgeniy Bogachev were on hand to present Veremeenko with his prize.

The VTB United League inaugurated individual prizes this season for the top players from each of the nine countries featuring at least one League club (the prize is awarded by citizenship, not club allegiance). In the six countries represented by one club (Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Belarus, Czech Republic and Kazakhstan), a panel of League experts determines the winner. The top player from Russia (nine clubs), Lithuania (three clubs) and Ukraine (two clubs) will be chosen by the League in partnership with a leading sports media outlet in that country: Russian information agency R-Sport (RIA Novosti), Lithuanian website basketnews.lt and Ukrainian website basket-planet.com.

Vladimir Veremeenko is the fifth player to be honored. Petr Benda (Nymburk) of the Czech Republic, Tanel Sokk (Kalev) of Estonia, Aaron Cel (Turow) of Poland and Anton Ponomarev (Astana) of Kazakhstan already received their awards.

Veremeenko played 18 games for UNICS in the regular season, averaging 8.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 0.7 assists, and a 12.1 efficiency rating.

- This award is very valuable to me – I haven’t earned any individual prizes in a long time, - said Vladimir Veremeenko in an interview with VTB-League.com. – I never forget that I’m from Belarus. I try to go home at least twice a year to see my parents. Thanks to the League for this honor – it means I’ll need to measure up to it on the court, which I will try to do.