Ekaterina Snytina is a famous Belarusian basketball player. She is a bronze medalist of the 2007 European Championship, participated in the Olympic Games in Beijing and Rio, twice became the champion of Belarus, as well as Poland and France. Snytina was the captain of the Belarusian national team for a long time.
In 2020, when protests erupted in Belarus amid the stolen election by Lukashenka's regime, Snytina supported the Belarusians, quit the national team, and later was forced to leave her homeland.
She has been playing for the London Lions for the last two years, and on May 19, during the English Championship final, she played her last game in her sporting career.
The London Lions defeated the Newcastle Eagles 92-65 in the UK playoff final. Snytina scored 11 points, made 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 28 minutes and 11 seconds on the court. Ekaterina and her team won the gold medal at the British Championship.
Earlier Snytina with the same team won the Eurocup - the second strongest basketball tournament in Europe.
During her career Ekaterina played for clubs from Belarus, France, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Hungary and Great Britain. One of the main achievements in the history of Belarusian basketball - bronze medals of Eurobasket-2007 - was won with Ekaterina's direct participation.
Snytina plans to leave basketball in her life only for meetings with Belarusians. For the last three years she has been traveling around the cities and inviting fellow countrymen of different age and level of training to play together. And she notes that she doesn't look down on amateurs.
“I gather Belarusians to play the sport together so that they can see how great it is. I know a guy with cerebral palsy, he plays in Riga. And it was fun not only for him, but also for the people on the team. I don't expect you to score 20 points. I need you to feel part of a normal community, running around and laughing,” the Belarusian told Radio Liberty in a recent interview.
“The world is changing. If I change too, I think I will eventually find something that will bring me not only pleasure but also means of livelihood. I've long had a dream to play basketball, to enjoy it. Now I've given myself time to formulate a new dream, goal, idea. The great idea is to return to free Belarus, and I am still working on my personal dream,” says Ekaterina.
