Alexander Vasilyevich Rychagov (7 May 1956, Gorky — 7 January 2021, Pavlovo-on-Oka, Nizhny Novgorod Region) was a Soviet and Russian bandy player, a defender, and an Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR. A two-time world champion with the USSR national team, he later worked as a youth coach in Nizhny Novgorod.[1]
Playing career
Rychagov started out in ice hockey: in 1966 he enrolled in the youth sports school of Gorky Torpedo Hockey Club", playing ice hockey alongside city bandy competitions — from 1971 he played in the latter for the factory teams The Engine of the Revolution") and "Stankozavodets".[4] As he approached adulthood he made his final choice in favor of bandy. In January 1974 Rychagov was invited to a tryout with Gorky's "Start", but his debut came in the 1974/75 season: a team led by coach Yuri Efimovich Fokin won the RSFSR championship and returned to the top division. Already in the country's first national championship (the 1975/76 season), nineteen-year-old Rychagov played 23 of 26 matches.[4]
He spent 13 seasons in the top division with "Start" (299 games), having come up under coach Alexander Nikishin.[2] In the 1978 season, with the team, he became a silver medalist of the RSFSR Peoples' Spartakiad; in 1980, a silver medalist of the USSR championship; in 1983, a winner of the Soviet Cup; and in 1986, a finalist of the revived USSR Cup.[4] Besides "Start", he also played for Kemerovo's "Kuzbass" and Moscow's "Dynamo".[3]
USSR national team and world championships
A tough and uncompromising defender in one-on-one battles, he was called up to the USSR national team in 1978 and played for it until 1987.[4] With the national team, Rychagov took part in five world championships. He became world champion twice — in 1979 and 1985 — was a silver medalist twice (1981, 1983) and a bronze medalist once (1987).[3] In addition, he won four times in the so-called "minor world championships" — tournaments for the prizes of the newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya (1978, 1980, 1982, and one more occasion).[4] He was awarded the title of Honoured Master of Sports in 1985.[1]
Coaching career
After ending his playing career, Rychagov coached men's teams Balakhna.[3] He devoted almost the last two decades to working with children at the "Start" and "Trud" stadiums: from 2004 to 2021 he was a coach at the "Sormovo" Youth Sports School for bandy and ice hockey.[1] The Rychagov hockey dynasty continues: his son Anton Rychagov played for Nizhny Novgorod's "Start", while his grandson Dmitry Baranov played for "Start-2".[3]
Death
On 7 January 2021, Rychagov died in a hospital in Pavlovo-on-Oka, where he had come to visit friends. The preliminary cause of death was a stroke. He was 64 years old.[4] News of the player's death was reported by the press service of the Nizhny Novgorod bandy club "Start".[1] The farewell ceremony was held on 9 January 2021 at the "Start" stadium.[2]
Sources
- V Gorode N — World bandy champion Alexander Rychagov has died in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
- rusbandy.ru — Alexander Rychagov has died in Nizhny Novgorod — News Archive — Russian Bandy Federation (archive)
- Zhivyom v Nizhnem — On 7 January 2021, Honoured Master of Sports and two-time world champion Alexander Rychagov died — Zhivyom v Nizhnem (archive)
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Two-time world bandy champion has died — Two-time world bandy champion Alexander Rychagov died in Nizhny Novgorod Region on 8 January 2021… (archive)