Vladimir Torban

As a youth, Vladimir Torban played tennis, before taking up basketball at the start of the 1950s, when he was already nearly 20-years-old. Torban played his entire career from 1953-62 with one club, Dynamo Moskva. With Dynamo, Torban won the Soviet title in 1959, silver at the Soviet championships in 1956 and bronzes in 1957 and 1958. Torban played for the Soviet national team from 1955-59 and won the Olympic silver in 1956, won the European Championships in 1957 and 1959, while taking bronze at the 1955 European Championships. Torban also won gold at the 1955 Universiade and participated at the 1959 World Championships, where the Soviet Union refused to play against Taiwan and was disqualified.