The return home series of the basketball club «Astana» against «Almaty Legion» in connection with the restrictive measures introduced in the capital due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be held at a neutral site in Shchuchinsk.
«Almaty Legion» - is a Kazakh professional team from Almaty, part of the basketball club «Almaty», which was created in 2006.
Achievements:
- Two-time winner of the Kazakhstan Cup — 2015, 2016
- Champion of the Higher League of Kazakhstan — 2017/2018
- Silver medalist of the Major League of Kazakhstan — 2016/2017
- Silver medalist of the National League of Kazakhstan — 2007/2008, 2014/2015
- Bronze medalist of the National League of Kazakhstan — 2008/2009
“Astana” this season has already played two matches with “Almaty Legion”. The last series of games took place in the southern capital at the beginning of December last year, and our team more than confidently dealt with rivals in both games. Almaty team had difficulties in the new year, as a result of which their roster changed noticeably not for the strong side. Thus, “Astana” in the upcoming series is the undisputed favorite.
Changes in the roster: As already noted, Legion has, for financial reasons, greatly changed its roster compared to the previous series of games not for the better. All the imports had left the team: Dmitry Sviridov, Alexander Kodola, Sergey Marikhin and Roman Lagutin, who moved to “Kaspiy”. Another leader of Almaty team, Roman Marchuk, also joined the Aktau team. Anuar Shakirov moved to Shymkent “Kazygurt”, and Konstantin Marzan also left “Legion”. Their places were taken by young players from the farm team: Raimbek Rahmedet, Arsen Ordokov, Diaz Kalymbetov, Andrey Volkov, Daniil Severgin, Adil Taipov and Kairat Raimov.
Leading rivals: After most of the major players have left, Legion's coaching staff are betting on the youth. Vadim Korzhov, who performed well before the New Year, is currently the most effective and efficient in the team. The role of the main «big» in the team went to Nikita Timofeev and Daniel Albrant. In addition, the base now includes Temirlan Dzhunusov, Vadim Fabrikantov, Stanislav Sakhipov and Maxim Rakovskikh.
Tournament position: “Astana” confidently occupies the first line in the championship of Kazakhstan and has been playing the tournament without defeat. “Almaty Legion” before the New Year and the difficulties that arose had a good season, having won 7 victories in 14 games, which allowed them to take the third line. However, after the change in the roster, they have already lost twice, both times in Kostanay, but so far the points they earned in the first half of the season allow them to remain in the top three. However, in the event of two defeats in the upcoming series, they will yield the third position to “Tobol”.
The matches will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday — January 26 and 27 in Shchuchinsk at the arena of the Zhaksy 2 sports base. The first match starts at 18:00, and the re-match will begin at 15:00 Nursultan time. Live broadcast of the matches will be available on the home page of our website and on our
YouTube chanel.
Detailed information about the tournament, tournament tables, schedule and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
