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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Vyacheslav Bohuslayev: “During a handball match I can only cheer like the rest”

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Where can you meet the director of the Motor Sich Co. Vyacheslav Bohuslayev? Catching his secretary to get into his office or just siting in his waiting room for hours on end does not pay, his working day is so busy you can hardly see him in his office.

The Day reporter went to the Sports Palace to a Motor Sich handball game and found him there. This talk took place right on the bleachers.

The Day: Vyacheslav Ivanovych, ten years ago a well-known engines manufacturer became a sponsor of the ZII female handball team, which is now called Motor Sich. One need not be a prophet to say that restructuring would have swallowed the club up if the plant did not give it a helping hand. If it were not for that, the team would not have won the bronze in the All-USSR tournament and gold medals in four Ukrainian tournaments. Was it easy to persuade the staff to bear such a burden? And why did you choose handball, when there are so many “elite” sports like tennis, soccer or golf?

V.B.: It was easy, because our enterprise's employees are the most passionate handball fans in Zaporizhzhia. They like this sport in our city and it successfully competes with his majesty, soccer. Why? It is more democratic, more accessible. You can scream and shout or argue with your neighbor during the game. The cheering team always follows the team on the bus to support them on the road. And tennis, you cannot speak loudly and if you shout – they will all think you crazy. And second, I used to play handball when I was young. I played for well-known team called Zaporizhaluminbud (Zaporizhzhia Aluminum Construction) in the USSR Prime League. So I think it would have been a crime to let my game die or sell it to others. That is why our plant started supporting our female handball team.

T.D.: You obviously played on a male team, so why did you choose to support a female one?

V.B.: I was thinking about supporting both teams, but when the USSR split up we faced more trouble than we could deal with. So I offered my colleague director of Zaporizhtransfomator (Zaporizhzhia Transformer) Leonid Khadzhynov to host the male team. There are also many fans on the ZTR plant and the club does not disappoint them as leader for the Ukrainian championship.

T.D.: Well, I think you have to admit that you are a little cunning. It is just that you like the ladies better. As far as I know Olena Zhupina and Svitlana Serbina, world champions in water diving are also in the Motor Sich club.

V.B.: You seem to know everything. Feeling jealous? Give us some more world champions, but real ones, and we will take them. But we cannot possibly keep the whole male team, even though we signed 137% more contracts than last year. No, the male team is too great a burden both for me and the plant.

T.D.: But you still support the female national team. When did this idea arise?

V.B.: Back when Ukraine became independent. The country’s builders did not have time for sports, and someone had to save handball, the best goalies’ school. We were famous for defense. The first national team played in our uniforms, rode our buses, and trained in our camps.

T.D.: As far as I know you are for the systematic development of handball from children’s to masters’ teams.

V.B.: I think handball will not progress if stress is not made on traded players. Our plant pays much attention to sports. Sports schools work day and night. We have done many things in these past six years. We had to attract financial angels to assist the development of such a popular game, attract banks and other structures. And we are not going to let up.

 

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