Vitaliy Lebedintsev has been appointed as the new coach of Ukraine.

Lebedintsev was not the first choice for the role, but accepted the offer after BC Kyiv assistant coach Viktor Berezhnyy and Budivlenyk Kyiv head coach Yevhen Murzin both turned down the job.

Lebedintsev had been in charge of the Under-20 team. He replaces Hennadiy Zaschuk who led the team for most of last year's EuroBasket tournament and has been in charge ever since.

Only 45, Lebedintsev has already amassed much experience on the domestic scene in Ukraine, winning a title with MBC Odesa.

His main task with the national team will be to secure qualification for EuroBasket 2007. Ukraine will contest the qualification stages in Group A against Bulgaria, Poland and Sweden.

"Our goal is to qualify to Eurobasket but still we have to use as many young talented players as we can," Lebedintsev said.

"Among them are Andriy Agafonov from Khimik, Kirilo Fesenko from Azovmash and Oleksiy Pecherov, who was recently picked by Washington Wizards in the NBA draft."

Following Lebedintsev's promotion, Valentin Berestnev of MBC Mykolaiv will now  coach the Under-20 team at the European Championship in Division B.