A week ago, a news story that escaped many people’s attention came. The headline already gave an idea of ​​something very strange: “The Colombian Basketball Federation denies that the team lost to a Russian team by 102 points.” Apparently, the country’s official body issued a statement denying the information with three important points. The most important of which was that no team from the country participated in the tournament. The question was then clear: who had come to play against Russia?

Friendship Cup. Before we get into what’s happening, a little context. After the war in Ukraine began, Russia was banned from participating in most international sporting events. So the country decided to create its own tournament, in this case basketball, with one idea: for its athletes to compete.

The Friendship Cup was held in Perm and invited the national teams of Venezuela, Russia and Colombia, as well as a selection of Perm’s best amateur players. All expenses (including travel and hotels) were covered and paid for by the Russian basketball federation.

Thus began the tournament.

Match. Everything was going more or less well until the Perm and Colombia teams faced each other. After the end of the second quarter, the coffee growers had only two points left, while the locals had 41. Colombia lost by 102 points (155-53). As one local player explained, “In the videos of the Colombian team, we see a slightly different team composition. I have never won a match by 100 points in my career,” Samson Ruzhentsev said after the victory.

Even the President of the Russian Federation Andrei Kirilenko “shed blood” with the following statements: “After the first match, we understand that the current level of the Colombian team is below expectations, which is a bit disappointing for all of us.” In this sense, we have already reviewed the schedule and format of the tournament to ensure a more balanced and competitive competition.”

Statement from the Colombian Federation

Official statement from Colombia. Hours after the crushing result, the Colombian federation released an official statement. “The Colombian Basketball Federation never received an official invitation to participate in the Friendship Cup and did not authorize any club or training school in the country to participate. “We will take legal action in the event that our image is misused without prior permission.”

There was no response from Russia to this statement. Kirilenko even came out, emphasizing that they did nothing wrong. “We would like to emphasize that all our interactions with the Colombian team are conducted only through official channels of communication. Our position remains the same: all communication and coordination are conducted only through verified and official sources,” the former NBA player said.

Computer hacker. It seems that there is a name behind this whole story: Christian David Camira Durán, a 25-year-old Colombian student living in Russia. The young man planned the entire registration process by hacking the Colombian basketball federation’s email to contact the Russian tournament. In this way, he and his friends created a coffee “selection”.

“Fake” statement from Camira Durán

Playing in the third division (lowest) of a local 3×3 basketball league in Kazan, Christian received the green light after personally negotiating terms with Russian managers to cover the “team’s” ticket and hotel expenses. ” ” Seeing the existing disparity after the first match, the tournament canceled the second match with the Russian team.

There is no one at the wheel. What remains unclear at this point is how the local organizers did not bother to verify the players on the list the young man gave them and accepted the “team” as it was.

Image | Niek van Son

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