Zenit holds first training session with new roster

Today, August 23, the main team of the Blue-White-Sky Blues gathered at the Zenit Basketball Academy with its updated roster and held the first training session in preparation for the 2025/26 season. Before it began, Aleksander Sekulic introduced his coaching staff and explained the role of each team member, mentioning both the medical staff and the club’s press office representatives.

Forwards Artem Antipov, Mikhail Dulkay and center Ilya Krivykh also joined the training session.

Zenit newcomer Neno Dimitrijevic, who arrived in St. Petersburg the day before, emphasized that he is looking forward to the season.

— Neno, we are glad to see you in St. Petersburg. How was your flight? What are your expectations of the city and the club so far?

— It was a long flight, but I'm glad finally to be here, to start the preseason, get to know everybody as quick as possible and start the season.

— Did you have a chance to talk to your new teammates or to the coach?

— Yeah, I spoke with some guys. We are excited, I think it's gonna be a good season ahead of us and also I spoke with the coach. Like I said, I'm excited to start the season.

— Andrey Vorontsevich said that he expects super-Neno. Will we able to see super-Neno as soon as it possible?

— I just want to get back to my game, enjoying the game as I know how to play, and hopefully I can help the team win so many games.

— And finally, a few words about Georgy Zhbanov — how did you communicate with him in this locker?

— We are close friends from UNICS, we won the championship together, that always stays that connection. Happy to be sharing the court again with him.

Vladislav Emchenko, who also moved to Zenit this summer, shared his impressions of the start of preseason training.

— Vladislav, we’re glad to see you here on this court. Tell us, what are your impressions of training at the Zenit Basketball Academy?

— Yesterday we had a short training session, and I already met some of the guys. Before, we rarely came here, only for pregame practices. Now we’ll be here more often. Training will start soon, and of course, I’m looking forward to seeing the whole coaching staff and all the players together and starting to work toward our goals.

— Dmitry Uzinskiy joked: "What’s with the rims?" How do you find the hoops here?

— When he makes a shot, he says those are his rims. When he misses, he says the ball is off. So there’s time to get used to them in any case.

— Is Sasha Shcherbenev helping you settle into the locker room? Showing where the drinks are, where to go, where to practice?

— Not really, everything seems clear. Managers Slava and Gena help with everything, making sure all we have to do is play and practice. They handle everything else. But Sasha is definitely the guy that I, Dima, and Andrey Martiuk would go to first if we had questions we thought he could help with.

— Today is the introduction of players and coaches to each other. What do you expect from the training?

— Honestly, I don’t know. Yesterday I thought we’d just come in and shoot around, but no. Our head coach Sasha wasn’t there yet, only the assistants. And they gave us what they called a stressful practice, so we really had to push ourselves hard. But we’ve recovered fine. So, as for today, I’m not sure. I’m ready for any type of work, but I think today will be more of an orientation. Maybe they’ll share the preseason training plan, maybe we’ll do some shooting and moving around.

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Until August 28, Zenit’s main team will train at the Basketball Academy, after which they’ll head to Antalya for training camp, where three friendly matches are scheduled. More details about the preseason plan for the St. Petersburg team can be found here.