Vladimir Torban

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Torban (Владимир Александрович Торбан; 10 December 1932 – 19 August 2011) was a Soviet basketball player. He trained as a tennis player in the 1940s and only in the 1950s started playing basketball for Dynamo Moscow. Between 1955 and 1959 he was a member of the Soviet team. In 1955, he won a gold medal at the Summer Universiade and a bronze medal at the EuroBasket 1955. Next year, he won a silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics. He became European champion in 1957 and 1959; in 1959, he also won a national title and competed at the world championship, where he held the highest live scoring rate (57%). However, his team was disqualified for refusing to play against Taiwan.