European champion Nikita Shabalkin in the Russian national team got into hospital with bodily injuries after a beating in the Moscow region in the Golden Domes microdistrict. This is the second attack on a famous Russian basketball player in the past few months. In early May, the leader of CSKA and the national team, Alexei Shved, suffered.
Triumph, abrupt end of career and first incident Nikita Shabalkin was one of the most promising Russian basketball players in the mid-2000s. The young striker managed to play for CSKA, Khimki, Triumph, Dynamo, Lokomotiv Kuban and UNICS. The main triumph was the victory at the 2007 European Championship. Then there was a bronze medal at the European Championship in Lithuania in 2011 and a silver medal at the Universiade in Belgrade.
All the more unexpected was the news that the player ended his career in 2013 at the age of 26. For a basketball player, this is the peak. Since then, Shabalkin has disappeared from the radar and reappeared in the information field only in 2021. True, not the most pleasant occasion. The ex-forward of the Russian national team crossed the road in the wrong place in the center of Moscow and kicked a taxi car.
The driver showed dissatisfaction and put pressure on the gas, dragging Nikita on the hood, after which he fled the scene. Later it turned out that the taxi driver himself went to the police and said that Shabalkin was in a state of extreme intoxication. Nikita also responded to the incident.
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«The driver didn't contact me or apologize. According to the reaction of a person, it is clear that, for me, this reaction is inadequate. When people act like this, I probably shouldn't expect an apology. I was released from the emergency room, there was an examination, they took blood for alcohol — standard procedures. They called from the Department of Internal Affairs, they are looking for him, they are watching, but it seems to be not so important anymore. A lesson for the future that you need to walk on a pedestrian crossing, even if there are no cars. Because such an inadequate reaction, it is unpredictable, «Sport-Express quotes Shabalkin.
Beat up in the suburbsTwo years later, Nikita got into a new story. The athlete was beaten in the suburbs. According to the press service of the Moscow Region Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Khimki police department received a message from a medical institution that «a man born in 1986 was delivered with bodily injuries.»
“According to the victim, he was beaten near one of the houses located in the Golden Domes microdistrict. Currently, police officers are taking measures aimed at searching for the persons involved in this illegal act. The motives for the incident are being established,” the head office added.
Soon, the sources of the agency confirmed that it was Shabalkin who was the victim, and the police began an active search for the attackers. At the time of writing, there were no other details of the incident, but in any case, the trend of attacks on former and current basketball stars is frightening.
In May 2023, Alexey Shved received a severe head injury as a result of an attack by hooligans in the center of Moscow near one of restaurants. It happened a day after the defeat of his CSKA Moscow in the VTB United League semi-finals from Lokomotiv-Kuban. Police later arrested four suspects, three of whom were released on bail pending a court decision. Fortunately, the threat to the athlete's life passed, and he even attended the match of his team, but it is not yet completely clear what the long-term consequences of that attack will be.