ASTANA (2016 FIBA Asia Challenge) - Kazakhstan have named their 19-man preliminary roster for the FIBA Asia Challenge, set to take place in Tehran (Iran) from 9-18 September.

The list includes some players who have already had important roles in the senior squad, like Pavel Ilin, Mikhail Yevstigneyev, Nikolay Bazhin and Vitaliy Lapchenko.

Ilin was part of Kazakhstan’s 2015 FIBA Asia Championship team that finished 11th, and he’s the only player from that tournament selected for the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge. 

Surprisingly, the list also includes 4 players from the U18 team that recently participated in the 2016 FIBA Asia U18 Championship in Tehran, Iran.

Kazakhstan recorded a single win and failed to qualify to the quarter-finals of that youth tournament, but the performances of Arten Parfenov and Nikita Timofeyev’s were convincing enough to earn them a call-up to the senior team along with Ilyas Zhunussov and Askar Tabsheyev.

Timofeyev and Parfenov were Kazakhstan's main weapons in Tehran. Timofeyev finished off averaging 14.8 PPG and 11.8 RPG, while Parfenov recorded a near double-double (10.5 PPG, 9.2 RPG).

The average age is 23.6 years.

Kazakhstan will tip-off their FIBA Asia Challenge campaign against 2008 FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup Champions Jordan, before facing the mighty Chinese the next day. 

Kazakhstan’s last FIBA Asia Challenge appearance was at the 2010 FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut (Lebanon). They finished 8^th with a 2-5 record.

The top five teams in the FIBA Asia Challenge will earn for their respective sub-zones an extra berth in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup (formerly the FIBA Asia Championship)

FIBA