The first month of the new year will be very busy for the capital's basketball players. Match after match, the home arena immediately changes to away games; almost the entire month of January, the capital’s Gullivers will “live” in work-game mode.

Already this weekend, January 8, as part of the VTB United League championship, Astana welcomes the Russian team Nizhny Novgorod on its site.

Today, Nizhny Novgorod residents occupy 10th place in the VTB League standings.” The team has a good mix of foreign players and Russian players. One of whom, Ivan Strebkov, is the team leader, one of Nizhny’s most productive and impressive players.

Astana basketball players approached the first match of the new year in good shape. After the Christmas holidays, the team immediately began training.

The team's head coach Ilias Papatheodorou is optimistic about the game:

- First of all, happy new year to everyone! We open the new year with the first home match against a team from Nizhny Novgorod. Basketball cube "Nizhny Novgorod" is an excellent team, which especially stands out for its excellent attack. To win this match we need to play our best game, each of the team players must feel full responsibility for the result,” commented the head coach.

Let us remind you that the game will take place on January 8, in the hall of the republican cycling track “Saryarka”. Starts at 16.00 hours. Free admission.

You can watch the match broadcast online on the website http://www.vtb-league.com/ and also on the Kazsport TV channel at 19.35 hours.

www.pbcastana.kz