Igor Griszczuk (born 9 June 1964; born as Ihar Hryščuk) is a Belarusian-Polish retired

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and current coach. Born in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, he had a long career in Russia and Poland. His jersey number 12 was retired by

Włocławek Włocławek (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Leslau) is a city located in central Poland along the Vistula (Wisła) River and is bordered by the Gostynin-Włocławek Landscape Park. As of December 2021, the population of the city is 106,928. Loc ...

Early life

Griszcuk started playing basketball in the fourth grade of primary school, at age 17, for RTI Minsk. Later, he played for

MBC Dynamo Moscow MBC Dynamo Moscow (russian: МБК Динамо Москва) was a Russian basketball team from Moscow. It was active for 93 years (from 1923 until 2016) as professional club, before being dissolved due to financial problems. The club had sever ...

while also serving in the military. In 1990, Griszcuk returned to RTI Minsk. In the 1991–92 season, he made his debut in Poland playing for

Pogoń Szczecin Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Pogoń Szczecin (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Szczecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league s ...

's basketball team in the Polish second division. He helped the team to promote by winning the finals of the play-offs. Griszczuk averaged 28.3 points per game in the playoffs. He went on to play eleven years for

KK Włocławek Klub Koszykówki Włocławek (in English: Basketball Club Włocławek), or known for sponsorship reasons as Anwil Włocławek, is a Polish professional basketball club, based in Włocławek, Poland. The team plays in the Polish Basketball League ...

and was named to four

All-PLK Team The All-PLK Team is an annual honour for the five best players of a given Polish Basketball League (PLK) regular season. The team is voted by press reporters from around the country. Teams The player in bold was named the PLK Most Valuable Playe ...

s and a PLK All-Star five times as well. He won the

Polish Basketball Cup The Polish Basketball Cup ( pl, Puchar Polski w koszykówce mężczyzn) is the annual top-tier level national domestic basketball cup competition for clubs in Poland. It is managed and organised by the Polish Basketball League (PLK). The competitio ...

in 1995 and 1996. On 21 October 1996, his jersey number 12 was retired by

Coaching career

In 2014, he took over the defending Belarusian champions

BC Tsmoki-Minsk Basketball Club Minsk ( be, Мінск) is a professional basketball club that is based in the city of Minsk, Belarus. They play in the Belarus Premier League and the VTB United League. The team plays its home games at the Minsk Arena. Establis ...

. He won three

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusi ...

titles (from 2015 to 2017) and was the Coach of the Year in once (in 2017).

Personal

On 20 February 1998, Griszczuk received the Polish nationality.

References

1964 births Basketball players from Minsk Polish basketball coaches Naturalized citizens of Poland Polish people of Belarusian descent Belarusian emigrants to Poland Belarusian basketball coaches Polish men's basketball players Belarusian men's basketball players Czarni Słupsk coaches BC Tsmoki-Minsk coaches KK Włocławek coaches KK Włocławek players BC Dynamo Moscow players Living people {{Belarus-basketball-bio-stub