The LHF reports that Demidov passed away at the age of 59.
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The former handball player came to Riga in 1980 from Temirtau, Kazakhstan. Demidov was born in Russia, a small village near the town of Viks in what was then Gorky, but at the age of four moved with his family to Temirtau.
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The talented and attractive match manager (later called “Soviet handball D’Artanian”) from Almaty “Dinamo” wanted to be deceived by several top league clubs, including the Moscow MAI – once the first Soviet team to win the EHF Champions Cup (with Jānis Vilsons gate), which was one of the strongest in the USSR even then.
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But Demidov and his wife decided to go to Riga. It was decided that the management of “Builder” had not been lazy and had met with Sergei several times, moreover, he already had a family and Riga, where, as in Moscow, he promised an apartment, seemed more sympathetic to Moscow. He soon also became the leader of the “Builder”.
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In an interview last year, Demidov admitted that there were only two coaches who allowed him to express himself freely – Andris Gulbis in Riga’s “Builder” and then Yuri Klimov in Moscow MAI. Before joining the MAI team, Demidov and “Builder” won the highest place in history at the USSR Championship in 1982 – the sixth.
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Demidov was also a member of the USSR national team, and due to illness he dropped out of the national team preparing for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.
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Demidov was also one of the first Soviet handball players to go abroad in 1989 – to the “Sandefjord” team in Norway. There he won sympathy and recognition in the first season, became one of the best players, but later was also recognized as the best player.
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At the end of his career, Demidov was active in the Norwegian handball club with young players – Sergey was a specialist in the Norwegian handball federation in working with young handball players, then he ran the best sports gymnasium in Norway.
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