On Saturday, January 21, the capital's basketball club "Astana" will host the basketball club "Zenit" (St. Petersburg) as part of the VTB United League championship.

Information about the opponent:

The club was created in 2014, becoming a department within the structure of the football club of the same name. The core of the team and coaching staff were the players and coaches who represented Triumph in the previous season. In addition, the rights to participate in the 2014/2015 VTB United League and the 2014/2015 Eurocup were transferred to Zenit from the Moscow region club.

Season 2014/2015 Zenit already in the first season took 4th place in the regular season of the VTB United League, and in the 1/4 finals lost to Nizhny Novgorod after five matches, thus taking 5th place. In the Eurocup, the team overcame two group stages, but lost to Khimki in the 1/8 finals.

Season 2015-2016 Last season, Zenit St. Petersburg became the bronze medalist of the VTB United League for the first time in its history.

In the 2016 off-season, the club strengthened with 22-year-old shooting guard Sergei Karasev and Serbian point guard Stefan Markovic, who played in the NBA, and are one of the leaders of the club.

The team is coached by a famous Russian specialist, ex-mentor of the Russian national basketball team, Karasev Vasily Nikolaevich. Last season, it was this coach who received the “Coach of the Year” award in the VTB United League.

Now Karasev’s team is in 4th place in the VTB standings with a record of 9 wins and 3 losses. This season, the teams have already met on the St. Petersburg site, and then the hosts of the match celebrated victory (99-72). Now it's a completely different game. But, nevertheless, the match cannot be called easy.

Ilias Papatheodorou commented on the upcoming fight:

“The match with Zenit will be one of the most difficult home matches this season. Zenit is a very strong team in attack, they can score goals for every taste and easily find opportunities to attack. Now they are on a streak with very good victories and in order to win we need to be concentrated and aggressive for 40 minutes of the match.”

Let us remind you that the match will take place at the Olympic Training Center for Cycling. Starts at 16.00 hours. Free admission!