Jazz center Kyrylo Fesenko has left the Ukrainian national team with two games remaining in relegation round play as part of the European championships.
Fesenko was benched and did not play at all in Ukraine's victory Friday against Hungary and did not travel with the team for Monday's game at Estonia. Although a story on the federation Web site suggested otherwise, Fesenko is not injured, according to Russ Ridge, whose family helps care for Fesenko in Utah and has been in regular contact with him.
Fesenko saw only nine minutes of action in Ukraine's last Tuesday's loss to the Czech Republic. A dispute with his former club team in Ukraine has been speculated as one reason why Fesenko ended up at odds with the national team.
The news of Fesenko's departure still comes as a surprise, considering he spurned playing for the Jazz's summer-league team, citing the criticism he had faced at home in previous summers after skipping national team duty.
Fesenko was one of only two NBA players on Ukraine's roster -- along with Minnesota center Oleksiy Pecherov -- and was said to have felt betrayed by the benching, which occurred at a home game in the country's capital.
Having left the national team, Fesenko now is hoping to return to Utah before the end of the month to work out in advance of training camp, Ridge said. The Jazz exercised an $870,000 option in June to bring back Fesenko for this season.
rsiler@sltrib.com
