Ukrainian youth basketball player Volodymyr Yermakov is dead.
The 17-year-old youth player from the Arts Giants Düsseldorf was killed in a knife attack in Oberhausen, Germany, on Sunday night. His teammate Artem Kozachenko was also seriously injured.
As the “Krone” now reports, the victim also had a connection to Austria – the teenager had fled from the war in his homeland to the Lower Austrian state capital, where he played basketball for SKN St. Pölten. Yermakov only moved to Germany in the summer of 2023.
Murdered teenager played in St. Pölten
“When the war broke out, we took in ten Ukrainians, seven of whom have since returned because it was safe for them. Volodymyr then went to Düsseldorf in the summer,” says the chairman of the St. Pölten basketball players, Stefan Worenz, in an interview with the “Krone ” the sad backstory.
At the age of 15, Yermakov fled alone to Austria, where he, like other young people, was taken under the wing of former St. Pölten player Serguei Orekhov.
Bloody act cost basketball talent his life
On Saturday evening there was said to have been an argument with other young people at the main train station in Oberhausen, during which Yermakov was fatally injured.
The teenager died from his injuries during an emergency operation in hospital. The alleged main perpetrator fled, but was caught and tracked down a short time later. He is said to be only 15 years old.
The consternation is huge – both the Kiev Basketball Association and the Art Giants Düsseldorf publicly mourned the young athlete. Yermakov was considered a great basketball hope, played in the U19 Bundesliga, trained with the professionals and was also nominated for the Ukrainian U18 national team.
Kiev Basketball Association suspects politically motivated act
The club found touching words about the tragic death on social media. “In order to escape the war in his country of birth, he moved to Düsseldorf in July 2023, where he found his new home. Volodymyr was very popular with coaches, teammates and friends. He will be remembered as a young person whose everyday life was characterized by pure joy of life and sporting ambition.”
The Kiev Basketball Association, however, sees a political motive for the crime. The boys were “attacked with knives on the street just because they were Ukrainians.”
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2024-02-12 21:40:12
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