Mikhail Dulkay: "I Imagined my debut, so I was ready"

Mikhail Dulkay, a product of the Zenit Basketball Academy, made his debut in the VTB United League, spending 95 seconds on the court in Nizhny Novgorod.

— Mikhail, congratulations on your debut in the VTB United League! What emotions did you feel before stepping onto the court?

— Thank you! Actually, everything went calmly. I wasn’t even nervous. I was happy. Probably it’s because I’ve been with Zenit for five years already, I had imagined this moment, so I was ready both mentally and physically.

— What did Aleksander Sekulic say to you before your debut appearance on the court?

— He said, "Aimo, Dulkay!" (Come on in Croatian — note by Zenit BC)! And I went out.

— Today, four players from the Zenit Basketball Academy took the court at once. How did that make you feel?

— Honestly, I’m happy. For our guys, Pasha Zemskiy and Ilya Krivykh. I’m also very happy for Burik. Semen Burinskiy is a close friend of mine; he’s currently on loan in Nizhny Novgorod. I was really glad when he got on the court. He played a fairly long stretch. I’m very happy for our guys and for myself.

— What can you say about the game overall?

— The game went quite confidently in our favor. We controlled the boards, even though we didn’t score much in the first half. Overall, we completely controlled the game. Yes, there were some nuances, but we confidently secured our victory.