The Kazakhstan national basketball team got off to a strong start in the 2029 Asia Cup qualifiers, routing the Maldives 114:43. The match took place in Almaty at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace and was the second game of the first qualifying round, reports infohub.kz.
After the first quarter, Alexander Lysyak's charges led by 29 points, and by halftime the margin had grown to 45 points. In the end, Kazakhstan set a tournament record by winning by 71 points. The final score was 114:43 (39:10, 28:12, 23:10, 24:11).
The starting lineup for our team included Rustam Murzagaliyev, Daniil Severgin, Shaim Kuanov, Vladimir Ivanov, and Robert Pan. They eagerly joined the scoring spree that had begun the day before, when Palestine routed Sri Lanka 121:63, setting the previous tournament record.
Tomorrow, Kazakhstan will face group leaders Palestine in a match for first place. In the other game, Kyrgyzstan will take on Sri Lanka.
The tournament in Kazakhstan, along with parallel competitions in the UAE, Mongolia, and Malaysia, is the first stage of the multi-step qualification for the 2029 Asia Cup. The top three teams from each group will advance to the second qualifying round. From November 23 to December 1 of this year, eight teams will be determined to join the 16 teams already qualified for the final tournament of the 2025 Asia Cup in the third stage of qualifying.