ALROSA to name diamonds "Lev Yashin" and "Brilliant moment!" based on fans' suggestions
Moscow, 11 July 2018 - ALROSA, the world's largest diamond mining company, announces the results of a competition to choose a "football-related" name for a large rough diamond. The company has chosen two winners, from Chelyabinsk and Mirny; they will receive the tickets to the final game of the FIFA World Cup 2018?,,?. Based on their suggestions, the facts of extraction of two precious stones will be named "Lev Yashin" and "Brilliant moment!"
More than 550 people participated in the 10-day competition and many of them made more than one suggestion. Surnames of footballers from various squads, variations to the championship's name and even the name of official match ball were among the most popular suggestions. Humorous names were also proposed: for example, participants suggested naming the stone after the tears or emotions shown by a particular player after scoring a goal or making a costly mistake. And naturally, unofficial symbols of the championship such as "Kokoshnik" (traditional Russian headdress) were also among the ideas.
More than 30 people suggested naming the diamond "Lev Yashin" in honour of the legendary Soviet goalkeeper. The first participant to propose this idea was Ilya Turbachev from Chelyabinsk, who is to receive a ticket to the final game.
"In my opinion, the FIFA World Cup 2018?,,? in Russia will go down in history and will become as legendary as the identity of the priceless player Lev Yashin. He is the best goalkeeper of the 20th century, the only goalkeeper in the world to win the Ballon d'Or award as well as the winner of the European Nations' Cup in 1960. Yashin became one of the most recognized footballers in the world, a kind of diamond. Large diamonds are extremely rare in nature, each of them is unique, and Lev Ivanovich was just as unique a man and an outstanding sportsman," Sergey Ivanov, CEO of ALROSA, said.
Initially, it was assumed that the diamond put up for the competition would be auctioned together with other large stones in Moscow. However, the memory of an outstanding goalkeeper is a national treasure. In this connection, ALROSA decided to give the name of Lev Yashin to the fact of extraction of another 69.7-carat diamond mined at the Jubilee pipe, not intended for the auction.
Lev Yashin's wife, Valentina Timofeyevna, will receive a certificate with the information about the rough diamond, while the precious stone itself will be included in the ALROSA's collection.
The focus of the competition, on the other hand, a 76.53-carat rough diamond, mined at International pipe, will be named "Brilliant Moment!" The suggestion came from Aytalina Argunova from Mirny, who will also receive a ticket to the final game.
"We would like to dedicate this stone to all the multiple brilliant moments that our national team demonstrated over the past 5 games. These are magnificent goals, beautiful outlets to the opponent's goalposts, successful actions of defenders, and, of course, the stunning saves of our goalkeeper. I think many Russians are sincerely grateful to the team and its coach for the excellent game, and for the huge number of positive emotions," Sergey Ivanov said.
