Basketball School Named After Legendary Soviet Player Uvais Akhtaev to Open in Chechnya

A basketball school is set to be established in the Chechen Republic. It will bear the name of Uvais Akhtaev—a renowned Soviet basketball player of Chechen descent and one of the tallest players in the history of the sport.

Authorities in the Chechen Republic announced the creation of the school, stating that the decision is part of a reform of the region's sports training system. In addition to the basketball school, plans are reportedly underway to open a separate ice hockey school and to name several existing sports institutions after famous Chechen athletes.

For instance, the Naurskaya sports school will be named after Pazlu Umarov, the Sernovodskaya school after Adam Saidulaev, and the Shatoy school—which serves the Itum-Kalinsky, Shatoysky, and Sharoysky districts—after Olympic freestyle wrestling medalist Adlan Varaev.

Akhmat Kadyrov, Deputy Chairman of the Chechen Government and Minister of Physical Culture and Sports, stated that these changes are intended to improve the efficiency of athlete training. He noted that the initiatives are being implemented as part of the federal "Youth and Children" project, which aims to develop sports infrastructure and support youth sports.

Uvais Akhtaev, the Soviet basketball player for whom the new school is named, was deported to Kazakhstan in 1944 along with the entire Chechen population; it was there that his athletic career began. From 1947 to 1957, he played for the Alma-Ata team Burevestnik, becoming a legend of Soviet basketball. Thanks to his extraordinary height—approximately 236 centimeters—and excellent physical condition, he was one of the first players in the USSR to regularly execute slam dunks and full-court passes; his style of play helped popularize basketball in Kazakhstan and the Caucasus. After retiring from his career due to diabetes, Akhtaev moved to Grozny, where he coached the Chechen-Ingush men's and women's national teams. He passed away in 1978 at the age of 47.

One of the republic's sports schools will also be named after Adlan Varaev. He was the first Chechen Olympic medalist—winning silver at the 1988 Seoul Games—as well as a world and European freestyle wrestling champion who later served as head coach of the Russian national team. Varaev died tragically in 2016 in the Argun Gorge after falling from a cliff.

However, authorities have not yet disclosed the financial details of the project. It is also unknown where the Uvays Akhtaev Republican Basketball School will be located; the relevant agency has not specified whether a new sports facility will be built for it or if the institution will operate using existing infrastructure.

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