Famous basketball player Budivelnik was buried in Kiev

Today, January 12, in the ceremonial hall of the crematorium of the Baykovo cemetery in Kiev, a farewell ceremony was held for the former basketball player of Kiev “Budivelnik” Grigory Ustimenko. The man died on January 10 at the age of 71.

Grigory Ustimenko was born on June 10, 1955. In 1971 he became the champion of the USSR among juniors, and in 1972 he won a silver medal as part of the Ukrainian national team at the All-Union Schoolchildren Spartakiad. The main achievement in Ustimenko’s career was the bronze medal won with Budivelnik at the 1974 USSR Championship.

After completing his football career, Ustimenko devoted himself to working with youth and trained many talented basketball players. Grigory Aleksandrovich worked for many years as the senior coach of the student basketball team of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute. Under his leadership, the KPI team became many champions and laureates of the Ukrainian University Games in basketball, 12-time champions of the Kiev Professional Sports Union Basketball Cup competition and a silver medalist at the Kiev championship among student teams.