«Astana» arrived in Tallinn to meet with local «Kalev»

04.11.2020, 10:00    Views: 289
Source: Press service
Author:
Determined to win, the players of the basketball club «Astana» arrived in Estonia, where they will play  with Talinn «Kalev» in the VTB United League. The match will take place on Thursday, November 5, starting at 23.00 Astana time.

«Kalev»
 - is an Estonian professional men's basketball club from Tallinn, founded in 1920.

Achievements:
  • Champion of the USSR — 1991.
  • Estonian Champion — 2000, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016-2019
  • Silver medalist of the Estonian Championship — 2015
  • Estonian Cup Winner 2005-2008, 2016, 2017
Team roster:

Estonian Kalev has changed its roster very noticeably since last season. The team was left by the key players of the last season American Kyle Vinales, Estonians Janari Joesaar, Christian Kisting and Latvian Aigars Skele. In addition, the Americans Sasha Killeya-Jones, Tekele Cotton, Michael Finke, as well as Estonians Sander Raieste, Kristjan Kangur  and Martin Paasoja had left the team.

Kalev basketball club 2020/2021

Since last season, there are only three players left in the team and all Estonians — Sten Sokk, Tanel Kurbas and Martin Dorbek. The team was joined by four Americans at once. Center Devin Thomas  played before Kalev in the teams of the Turkish TED Ankara Kolejliler, the Spanish Bilbao Basket, the Israeli Hapoel Eilat, the Greek Lavrio, the Hungarian Alba Fehervar and the Argentinean Penarol. A guard Marcus Keane previously mainly played on the Asian arena: the Thai team Mono Vampire, the South Korean Jeonju KCC Egis and the Taiwanese Formosa Dreamers and Yulon Luxgen Dinos. He also played in the NBA Development League with Memphis Hustle. A guard Gabe Beeler before Kalev played in the Luxembourg team Arantia Larochette, the Macedonian Pelister Sport Bitola and the Serbian Vrsac Swisslion. But forward Chavon Lewis who also played in the VTB United League, previously participated in the Lithuanian Juventus and the Polish Charne and Start. In Kalev he already played in the season 2018/2019, and also managed to play in the teams of Nizhny Novgorod and Yenisey. The squad was replenished with a Latvian player — guard Janis Kaufmanis. Janis started his career in the Latvian teams Valmeira and VEF. In addition, he played in the Spanish team Forca Lleida, and last season he spent in the Latvian Ventspils. Kaufmanis has two Latvian championships under his belt. Five Estonians also have joined the team. Center Rauno Nurger is a ward of Kalev, who played in Spain in the teams Penas Huesca and Breogan. Forward Kregor Hermet mainly played in the Estonian teams — Audentes, Kohila and University of Tartu, in addition he played for the Spanish Forza Lleida. And also young Estonian guards Indrek Sunelik, Georg Kask, Julius-Erik Kastein.

Head coach:

The team, as in the previous season, is headed by the Latvian specialist Roberts Stelmahers. As well as in the last season, he is assisted by Estonian Indrek Reinbock and Latvian Akselis Vairogs. The team has announced another coach this season — Estonian Alar Varrak.

Roberts Stelmahers

Rival leaders:

The leaders of the team in the past games were the Americans Gabe Bealer, Devin Thomas and Markus Keane. The Estonians Kregor Hermet also showed good results. Latvian Janis Kaufmanis and Estonians Tanel Kurbas, Sten Sokk and Martin Dorbek spent about twenty minutes on the court. Rauno Nurger started in both games.

Tournament position:

Kalev has played only two matches this season and lost both to Zenith and Khimki. Also, due to a positive test for coronavirus, the Estonian team could not come to the game with the Lokomotiv-Kuban team and they were given a technical defeat. Thus, Kalev after three defeats is on the 12th line. Astana with one victory in five games is one line higher, in the 11th position.

Game history:

Until last season, Astana and Kalev met 14 times and the  advantage was on the side of the Kazakh team. But last season the Estonians improved their game and won two games with Astana. Thus, in 16  games Astana won 10 and lost 6.

Interesting Facts:
  • Last season, Kalev beat Astana twice.
  • Astana played their last match last season before the pandemic exactly with Kalev.

The match will take place on Thursday, 5 November in Tallinn at the Saku Suurhall Arena, starting at 23:00 Astana time. The online broadcast of the match will be available on our website in the Match Center section, and you can also watch the match in replay on the QazSport TV  channel the next day, November 6 at 10:00.

Detailed information about the tournament, tournament tables, schedule and match results are published in the Tournaments section.


«Samruk-Kazyna» National Welfare Fund

Uniform operator «Tourism Industry and Sports Support Fund»