{"id":177465,"date":"2026-02-27T15:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"handball-legend-siarhiej-rucienka-eyes-leadership-of-belarusian-basketball-federation","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/","title":{"rendered":"Handball legend Siarhiej Rucienka eyes leadership of Belarusian Basketball Federation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"block-image block-image-normal\">\n\n  <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1128\" height=\"752\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rutenko_noc.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rutenko_noc.jpg 1128w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rutenko_noc-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rutenko_noc-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rutenko_noc-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rutenko_noc-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1128px) 100vw, 1128px\" \/>\n  <figcaption>\n      <div class=\"block-image__descr\">\n\n        Siarhiej Rucienka \n    <\/div>\n  \n       <div class=\"block-image__author\">\n                <span>(noc.by)<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n     <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>February 27, <em>Pozirk<\/em><\/strong>. Former Belarusian handball star Siarhiej Rucienka is set to challenge for the top post in the Belarusian Basketball Federation (BBF) in an election scheduled for March 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2014, the BBF has been headed by Maksim Ry\u017eanko\u016d, who now serves as Belarus\u2019 foreign minister. Rucienka\u2019s candidacy marks a high-profile attempt to bring his sporting experience to a new arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A former stalwart of the Belarus national handball team, Rucienka also played for major European clubs including Barcelona, Real Sociedad and Celje. In addition to his handball career, he has led the Belarusian Tennis Federation since November 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>February 27, Pozirk. Former Belarusian handball star Siarhiej Rucienka is set to challenge for the top post in the Belarusian Basketball Federation (BBF) in an election scheduled for March 13. Since 2014, the BBF has been headed by Maksim Ry\u017eanko\u016d, who now serves as Belarus\u2019 foreign minister. Rucienka\u2019s candidacy marks a high-profile attempt to bring [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":177450,"template":"","rubric":[16,15,32],"class_list":["post-177465","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-society","rubric-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Handball legend Siarhiej Rucienka eyes leadership of Belarusian Basketball Federation | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"February 27, Pozirk. Former Belarusian handball star Siarhiej Rucienka is set to challenge for the top post in the Belarusian Basketball Federation (BBF)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Handball legend Siarhiej Rucienka eyes leadership of Belarusian Basketball Federation | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"February 27, Pozirk. Former Belarusian handball star Siarhiej Rucienka is set to challenge for the top post in the Belarusian Basketball Federation (BBF)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rutenko_noc.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"752\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/\"},\"headline\":\"Handball legend Siarhiej Rucienka eyes leadership of Belarusian Basketball Federation\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-27T12:45:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/\"},\"wordCount\":108,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rutenko_noc.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/\",\"name\":\"Handball legend Siarhiej Rucienka eyes leadership of Belarusian Basketball Federation | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/177465\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rutenko_noc.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-27T12:45:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"February 27, Pozirk. 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