Batu Gendunov
Batu Gendunov is a Mongolian ice hockey player currently playing for the Nagoya Orques in the XHL and the Mongolian national team. He has played for teams in Russia, Uzbekistan, China, Mongolia, Australia and Japan.
Playing career
Club
Gendunov was born in Irkutsk and is ethnically Buryat, visiting Ulan-Ude every summer. He began playing hockey with Yermak Angarsk. At age 13, he joined the CSKA Moscow youth system, with dreams of becoming the first Buryat to play in the Kontinental Hockey League. He also played one season with the Toronto Titans in Canada and learned about the North American style. From 2016 to 2019, he played for Atlant Moscow Oblast, Kapitan Stupino, and Amurskie Tigry Khabarovsk in the MHL and was included on the National Hockey League's 2016-17 Central Scouting Futures List.In 2019, Gendunov joined Humo Tashkent in Uzbekistan as the team prepared for its first season in the VHL. He played in Humo's first-ever match, a 3–1 exhibition victory over Khimik. He played the full pre-season for the club before departing for fellow VHL club Tsen Tou Jilin City in China. For the 2022/23 season, Gendunov joined Otgon Od of the Mongolia Hockey League. In just three seasons split between Otgon Od and Darkhan, he broke the league scoring records with 130 goals, 108 assists, and 238 points in 40 games. He was the league's top scorer with thirteen goals for Darkhan for the 2023-24 season.
After his first season in Mongolia, representatives from the Australian Ice Hockey League contacted Gendunov. He communicated with them for a year before traveling to Australia and eventually joining the Brisbane Lightning. He quickly established himself as one of the team's most dangerous offensive players, averaging more than a point per game. After two seasons in Australia, it was announced in August 2025 that Gendunov had joined the Nagoya Orques in the Extreme Ice Hockey League, Japan's newly-formed second-tier league.
International
Born in Russia, Gendunov has Mongolian ancestry. In 2021, the Mongolian Ice Hockey Federation contacted him and offered a Mongolian passport so that he could play for the Mongolia national team. He was included on Mongolia's roster for the 2024 IIHF World Championship Division IV, debuting in the competition. He was named the division's Best Defenceman as Mongolia won the championship and was promoted to Division III in 2025. In addition to his defensive contributions, the player tallied twelve points in three games, placing him fourth in scoring in the division.In the 2025 competition, Gendunov was Mongolia's top scorer with nine goals and eleven assists in five games as he was again named his division's Best Defenseman while also serving as an alternate captain. With twenty points, he finished second in the division's scoring chart.