Kazakhstan's national team lost to Palestine 67:80 (13:22, 10:12, 25:25, 19:21) in a key match for leadership in the Asian Cup-2029 qualifying tournament held in Almaty. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
An easy super-large (+71) victory over the Maldives did Kazakhstan a disservice. Palestine is a team of a completely different level. Our team simply failed the first quarter of today's match. Allowing the guests to dominate under their basket, the Kazakhs on the other half of the court ran into a competent defense, got confused and picked up many unnecessary fouls. The score steadily grew not in our favor – 5:11, 8:14, 13:22.
In the second quarter, the situation did not change. Alexander Lysyak's charges, often making mistakes, scored points with difficulty. Their opponents confidently led the game, regularly hitting the basket from comfortable positions. Minus 12 in the middle of the segment (16:28) forced our coaching staff to take a timeout. Nevertheless, the hosts lost the first half 23:34.
By the middle of the third quarter, the chase of the finally awakened Kazakhs took on visible features – 39:41. However, the Palestinians soon returned the score to a comfortable one – 53:42. Before the final segment, our guys were losing by 11 points. As a result, they lost by 13 – 67:80.
The most productive players in our team were Vladimir Ivanov (13 points) and Robert Pan (12). For the Palestinians, Brian Halums shone – 26 points.
The unexpected fiasco of the Kazakhs will not affect their further tournament prospects. Three teams will advance to the next round of qualifying. However, significant problems in our team's game have become clearly apparent.
In the first match of the game day, the Sri Lanka team defeated Kyrgyzstan today – 72:65 (12:13, 19:20, 20:16, 21:16). Moreover, the neighbors finished the first half with a two-point advantage – 33:31. However, in the end they faltered. Even 18 points from team leader Nazim Adilbekov did not help.
Tomorrow is a rest day at the tournament. On Sunday, August 30, the Central Asian derby Kazakhstan – Kyrgyzstan will take place. In another match, the Maldives will face Palestine.
The tournament in Kazakhstan, as well as parallel competitions in the UAE, Mongolia and Malaysia, is the first stage of a multi-stage qualification for the Asian Cup-2029. The top three teams from each quartet will advance to the second stage of qualifying.
From November 23 to December 1 of this year, eight national teams will be determined that will join the 16 teams participating in the final tournament of the Asian Cup-2025 in the third stage of qualifying.
The calendar of the Almaty qualifying tournament and other materials for its start are here.