For the first time this season, the Presidential Basketball Club “Astana” will play with the Kostanay “Tobol” as part of the home league series of the National League, which will be held in Nur-Sultan on December 9 and 10.
“Tobol” - is a Kazakhstani professional men's basketball club from the city of Kostanay.
Achievements:
- Kazakhstan Championship Winner: 2003/2004
- Silver medalist of the Championship of Kazakhstan: 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007, 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011
- Major League Winner: 2013/2014, 2015/2016, 2016/2017
- Major League Silver Medalist: 2010/2011
- Kazakhstan Cup Winner: 2005
- Finalist of the Kazakhstan Cup: 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015
- Kazakhstan Cup Bronze Medalist: 2018
This season, «Tobol» is led by Kazakhstani specialist Alexander Derbush, who has been leading the Kostanay team for several years, and before that, he had spent almost his entire career as a player in “Tobol”. In the offseason, four players left the team. Perhaps the main loss was a departure of Robert Pan, who, as you know, now stands for “Astana”. The club also left both imports, Ukrainians Dmitriy Khodov, and Maxim Lukyanov. And Kazakhstani Vasily Petrishinets signed with “Sinegorye”. Nevertheless, the Kostanay team retained its backbone. The most experienced guard Timur Sultanov and forward Maxim Voeikov, who once played in Astana, continued to play in «Tobol». Also, the Kostanay team saved two members of the National Team and one of the best Kazakhstani players, a center Anton Bykov and a guard Shaim Kuanov. In addition to them, guards Daniil Seleznev, Mikhail Shvab and Farid Karimullin, as well as young homegrown forward Rustam Valiev, remained in the team.
One of the most high-profile acquisitions was the return of one of the most famous Kazakhstan centers Anton Ponomarev, who spent the last seasons in “Astana”, where he was one of the leaders, and at the end of the 2017/2018 season, he announced his retirement. In addition to the capital teams of the “Tigers of Astana” and “Astana”, with whom he became the champion of Kazakhstan and the Cup winner more than 10 times, Anton played in Serbia and Russia, becoming the champion of the Super League. At once, two experienced forwards Denis Degtyarev and Pavel Ilyin also played in “Astana”. Denis built his career in such Kazakhstani teams as «Transstroymost», «Almaty-CSKA», «Kapshagay», «Caspiy» and «Astana», and last season had spent in «Sinegorye», Denis's main achievements is his performance for «Astana». Pavel Ilyin began his career at «Barsy Atyrau», then moved to Astana, where he spent 5 seasons, and between them spent one season in «Caspiy». After playing in the capital, Pavel returned to Atyrau and now he is playing for «Tobol». All the championship titles of Pavel are associated with “Astana”, and also he has two silver medals with “Atyrau Bars”. Another rookie of the team was the most experienced guard Konstantin Dvirny, a winner of the Kazakhstan Cup and twice a bronze medalist, who had once played for the “Caspiy”, “Almaty Legion” and “Kapshagai”.
Leaders of rivals: “Tobol” this season has an exclusively Kazakhstani and incredibly experienced squad, many of whose players at different times defended the colors of Kazakhstan as part of the National Team. The leaders of the team this season are two “big” ones, center Anton Bykov and Anton Ponomarev. Bykov has an average double-double — 19 points and 11.7 rebounds, Ponomarev has 11.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.7 block shots. Shaim Kuanov, the main point guard of Kostanays, scores 9.4 points and makes 3.5 assists and 2 steals on average. Often, team captain Mikhail Shvab and Pavel Ilyin come out at the start, and Denis Degtyarev, Konstantin Dvirny, Maxim Voeikov and Timur Sultanov spend quite a lot of time on the court.
The history of the games: “Astana” and “Tobol” first met back in the debut season for “Astana” in 2011/2012, and then the capital team won 8 times in the framework of the National League and the Cup of Kazakhstan. In the next season, 5 games took place, all of which ended in favor of “Astana”. In the next 4 seasons, the Kostanay team did not participate in the National League and during this time the teams played only twice in the Cup of Kazakhstan, then both victories were gained by our team. “Tobol” returned to the National League in the season 2017/2018 and lost 5 games to “Astana”, and last season the Kostanay squad in nine games was never able to beat our guys. Overall, the teams have met on the court 29 times, and not once “Tobol” was close to victory, but they could not defeat our team.
Standings: “Astana” and “Tobol” are the neighbors in the standings; the capital team is in first place with 12 victories in all matches held, and “Tobol” is on the second line, having 9 victories in 12 games as well.
Interesting Facts:
- Center of “Astana” Robert Pan had played for Kostanay “Tobol” last season.
- Almost half of the current roster of “Tobol”, namely 5 people played in the past for “Astana”: Timur Sultanov, Pavel Ilyin, Maxim Voeikov, Denis Degtyarev, and Anton Ponomarev.
Matches will be held on Monday and Tuesday, December 9 and 10 in Nur-Sultan on the court of the Saryarka cycle track. Beginning of matches
at 19:30 Nur-Sultan time. Online broadcasting of the matches will be available on the main page of our website.
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, the schedule and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
