Basketball-Pashutin steps down as Russia's head coach

MOSCOW, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The head coach of the Russian men's basketball team, Evgeny Pashutin, has left his position, the Russian Basketball Federation (RBF) said on Thursday. "We would very much like to thank Pashutin for all his work," RBF president Andrei Kirilenko said in an interview with the federation's press service posted on the RBF website (www.russiabasket.ru). "Unfortunately, neither he nor his coaching staff were able to get the results they wanted. Nevertheless, we really value the work that Pashutin put in to develop Russian basketball and his desire to achieve good results." The 46-year-old took charge as head coach in November 2013 and signed a three-year contract up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Russia were unable to qualify from their group at the European Championships this year, meaning the bronze medal winners at London 2012 will miss out on the Rio Games. (Reporting By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy; Editing by Rex Gowar)