Kazakhstan's men's basketball team lost its third match at the Asian Games in Japan. Following defeats to China and the Philippines, Alexander Lysyak's team failed to overcome Bahrain – 78:101. They finished their performance at the Asian Games 2026 five days before its official opening. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Impact of abandoning naturalized players

The refusal to attract naturalized players has negatively affected our team's performance. The level of the best Asian teams is now unattainable for Kazakhstan. Solid mid-tier teams, as shown by the game against Palestine in the home qualifying tournament for the Asia Cup 2029, are also too tough for us.

History and current situation

Kazakhstan basketball players have been participating in the Asian Games since 1994. At the 2002 Games in Busan, South Korea, our team won bronze. In 1998 and 2014, Kazakhstan basketball players were fourth. Those times seem to have gone forever. And the events around BC Astana, deprived of the lion's share of funding, do not bode well for our basketball in the future.

Match against Bahrain

In the match against Bahrain, only a victory suited Kazakhstan. But our team played on equal terms with the opponents' foreign legion only at the start. At the end of the first quarter, the Bahrainis pulled ahead 28:15 and subsequently only increased their lead. The final result – 101:78 (28:15, 27:24, 22:17, 24:22).

The top scorer for Kazakhstan was Daniil Severgin – 16 points. Anton Bykov scored 14. Bahrain's leaders Jakarr Sampson and Mustafa Rashed scored 23 and 20 points respectively.

Quarterfinalists

By this time, the quarterfinal berths have been secured by the teams of South Korea, Japan, China, Iran, Chinese Taipei, Jordan and Bahrain.

🏀 SOUTH KOREA – SAUDI ARABIA 82:66, JAPAN – INDONESIA 98:53, INDONESIA – SOUTH KOREA 48:102, JAPAN – SAUDI ARABIA 86:80, SAUDI ARABIA – INDONESIA 100:89, JAPAN – SOUTH KOREA 83:100

  • 01South Korea – 6, 2. Japan – 5, 3. Saudi Arabia – 4, Indonesia – 3

🏀 IRAN – QATAR 53:59, JORDAN – CHINESE TAIPEI 80:83, CHINESE TAIPEI – IRAN 69:72, QATAR – JORDAN 65:76, IRAN – JORDAN 81:68, CHINESE TAIPEI – QATAR 91:69

  • 01Iran – 5, 2. Chinese Taipei – 5, 3. Jordan – 4, Qatar – 4

🏀 CHINA – KAZAKHSTAN 99:61, PHILIPPINES – BAHRAIN 85:89, BAHRAIN – CHINA 59:105, KAZAKHSTAN – PHILIPPINES 78:109, BAHRAIN – KAZAKHSTAN 101:78, CHINA – PHILIPPINES will finish later

  • 01Bahrain – 5, 2. China – 4, 3. Philippines – 3, Kazakhstan – 3

About the Asian Games 2026

The official opening of the Games will take place on September 19. The next day, the final and the 3rd place match in classic 5x5 basketball among men will be played. In addition, the Games program includes a women's 5x5 tournament, as well as men's and women's 3x3 competitions. Representatives of Kazakhstan will take part in all tournaments.

The XX Summer Asian Games will be held in the Japanese city of Nagoya from September 19 to October 4. In the multi-sport event with athletes from 45 countries, 460 sets of medals will be awarded. 217 – among men, 204 – among women and 39 – in mixed categories. Tournaments will be held in 68 disciplines of 41 sports.

Kazakhstan's national team at the Asian Games 2026 will include 571 athletes.