Kazakh biathletes make history with World Cup stage bronze
ASTANA – Galina Vishnevskaya and Maxim Braun of Kazakhstan made history when they claimed Kazakhstan’s first third place in the single mixed relay at the International Biathlon Union’s (IBU) World Cup stage in Ostersund, Sweden on Nov. 26. First place went to the Austrian national team of Lisa Theresa Hauser and Simon Eder, followed by…
Stanimir Stoilov reflects on FC Astana’s 2017 success
ASTANA – FC Astana head coach Stanimir Stoilov is among those who stand behind the team’s achievements. The club, managed by the 50-year-old Bulgarian, won the national championship this year for the fourth consecutive time. No other Kazakh coach has managed the feat. Astana demonstrated decent play recently both in the domestic and international arenas,…
Madina Nurshayeva wins gold at ASBC Asian women’s boxing championship
ASTANA – Kazakhstan won one gold, one silver and four bronze medals at the ASBC (Asian Boxing Confederation) Women’s Boxing Championships, held Nov. 2-8 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Ten fighters represented the nation in all weight categories. The only Kazakh to claim the top of the podium was Madina Nurshayeva, who captured the…
FC Astana wins fourth straight Kazakhstan Premier League title
ASTANA – FC Astana came out on top of Kazakhstan’s Premier League for the fourth time in a row with a 2-0 victory over Akzhayik of Uralsk on the last day of the season. The reigning champions could have secured the defence of their title earlier, but they lost 0-2 at home to Kairat in…
Kazakhstan’s Nikita Panassenko wins Track Cycling World Cup event in Poland
ASTANA – TrackTeamAstana’s Nikita Panassenko, a 25-year-old rider on the Kazakh national team, beat some of the world’s best cyclists to win the men’s points race in the first stage of the International Cycling Union (UIC) Track Cycling World Cup. The event was held Nov. 3-5 in Pruszkow, Poland. The dynamic race required the athletes…
FC Astana secures first away win in European club competition group stage
NETANYA – In the fourth round of the UEFA Europa League’s group stage, FC Astana secured its first away win in a group tournament of a European cup. In Netanya, the Kazakh club defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 and moved up to second place in Group A. Understanding that the Israeli club would be gunning…
Kazakh team prepares for ASBC women’s championship
ASTANA – The Kazakh national team is training for the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) Women’s Boxing Championships, to be held Nov. 2-10 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The tournament hosts and the Indian, Kazakh and Uzbek teams are expected to perform at full strength. The Kazakh women will be seeking the highest possible results,…
FC Astana secures record European win, thrashes Tel Aviv 4-0
ASTANA – FC Astana delivered an impressive display in a 4-0 home victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv FC, its biggest margin of victory in European club competition. After losing away to Villarreal CF and tying with SK Slavia Praha at home, the Kazakh champions needed three points to preserve a realistic chance of progressing to…
Kazakhstan hosts second round of Confederation Cup
ASTANA – The qualifying stage for the second Confederation Cup tournament draw was held Oct. 13 in Kazakhstan. The uniqueness of the tournament is due to the fact that it concurrently hosts competitions in four kinds of sports: Greco-Roman as well as freestyle wrestling, taekwondo and judo. Qualifying stage of group A, which included teams…
AFC Kairat progresses to UEFA Futsal Cup elite round despite upset in Minsk
ASTANA – ACF Kairat Almaty, two-time holder of the UEFA Futsal Cup, progressed from second place to the tournament’s elite round during the Oct. 11-14 group one main round in Minsk, Belarus. In the first match, the Kazakh team defeated Italian champions ASD Pescara C/5. The hosts had some issues on defence, since Leo was…
FC Kairat Almaty captures Kazakhstan Cup for seventh time
ASTANA – Football club Kairat Almaty claimed the Kazakhstan Cup for the seventh time in front of 10,400 spectators on Oct. 14 at Aktobe city’s Central Stadium with a 1:0 win over FC Atyrau. Kairat were recognised as firm favourites ahead of the match. They began justifying those expectations by dominating the pitch from the…
Team Kazakhstan finishes last in FIFA World Cup qualification group
ASTANA – Team Kazakhstan will not be advancing in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. The team, which ended their quest with a 3-1 away loss to Romania and a 1-1 home tie with Armenia, finished at the bottom of its group with only three points. Poland earned a direct ticket to the final…
Kazakh national women’s volleyball team reaches world championship
ALMATY – Team Kazakhstan secured a place in the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Women’s Volleyball World Championship next year in Japan by finishing as runners-up in the Asian qualifier Pool A finals. Almaty’s Baluan Sholak Sports Palace hosted the tournament Sept. 20-24 involving teams from Australia, China, Chinese Taipei and Fiji. On the final…
Astana Pro Team’s Alexei Lutsenko wins Tour of Almaty 2017
ALMATY – The Astana Pro Team’s Alexei Lutsenko of Kazakhstan has once again won the Tour of Almaty, this time in the race’s first iteration as a multi-day event. Kazakhstan’s first professional international two-day cycling race, Tour of Almaty, finished Oct. 1. This year, the tour was upgraded to a multi-day cycling race and included…
FC Astana draws Slavia Prague in UEFA Europa League
ASTANA – In its first home match at the group stage of the current Union of European Football (UEFA) Europa League season, FC Astana played Sept. 28 against a strong Czech team with solid international experience. Slavia Prague’s lineup this season features some well-known players such as Ruslan Rotan, Miguel Danny and Miroslav Stoch who…
Anticipated Golovkin-Alvarez bout ends in controversial draw
ASTANA – Kazakh boxer Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KO) fought Mexican fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KO) to a controversial draw Sept. 16 at the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas. The draw is considered controversial by many pundits and fans who have stated publicly that they believe 35-year-old Golovkin won the fight and…
Kazakhstan beats current champ Argentina to return to Davis Cup World Group
ASTANA – After a year-long hiatus, Kazakhstan’s men’s tennis team returned to the Davis Cup World Group by defeating Argentina in the playoffs. The Argentines, the current Davis Cup champions ,were the clear favourites in the match, even though their 3-2 home loss in February to Italy sent them to the playoffs. Kazakh captain Dias…
Astana loses first UEFA Europa League match in Spain
ASTANA – FC Astana, the only Kazakh club in this year’s UEFA Europa League, lost 3-1 while visiting Spanish club Villarreal CF in its first group stage match on Sept. 14. The teams played one another three years ago in the last qualifying round of the same tournament. The Spaniards, known locally as El Submarino…
Kazakh wrestlers win three medals at World Championships in Paris
ASTANA – Kazakh athletes won three medals at the World Wrestling Championships Aug. 21-27 in Paris, taking two silvers in Greco-Roman wrestling and a bronze in freestyle. Demeu Zhadyrayev (71 kg) won his silver medal on the first day of the tournament, losing 8-3 to Frank Staebler of Germany in the final match. Zhadyrayev previously…
Kazakh boxers win gold, bronze and silver medals at world boxing championships in Hamburg
HAMBURG – Kazakh boxers won one gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the Aug. 25 to Sept. 2 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Hamburg. Kairat Yeraliyev, considered one of the nation’s main hopes before the championship, triumphed in the bantamweight (up to 56 kg). In the final bout, he fought Duke Ragan of…
FC Astana defeats Celtic at home, but fails to qualify for Champions League
ASTANA – FC Astana secured a 4-3 win over Celtic FC in the spectacular return match of the UEFA Champions League playoffs Aug. 22, extending its undefeated home streak in European club competitions to 15 matches. The Scots had already virtually secured their berth in the Champions League group stage in the first game at…
Kazakh boxer claims WBC Youth World Light Heavyweight Title
ASTANA – Kazakh boxer Ali Akhmedov recently became the WBC Youth World Light Heavyweight champion by beating previously undefeated 23-year-old American Curtis Hill Jr. in Austin, Texas. Hill had won his previous 10 bouts, including five by knockouts. Akhmedov is undefeated with seven wins. The Kazakh boxer knocked out his opponent in the fourth round.…
Celtic FC crushes Astana 5-0, nearly eliminates its chances to advance in champions league
ASTANA – FC Astana suffered a major 0-5 defeat from Celtic FC in the first match of the UEFA Champions League playoffs on Aug. 16. It was the second time the teams met in the Champions League. In 2016, FC Astana suffered a 1-2 defeat in Glasgow, following a 1-1 draw in Kazakhstan, and the…
FC Astana secures European autumn, will seek revenge from Celtic in UEFA Champions League playoffs
WARSAW – FC Astana surprised many by beating Legia Warsaw 3:2 on aggregate in the UEFA Champions League’s third qualification round. The victory means that the Kazakh club will next play in the Champions League qualification playoffs with a chance to reach the tournament’s prestigious group stage, or, if eliminated, the Europa League. Either way…
Tour de France winner Chris Froome to race in EXPO 2017 International Criterium
ASTANA – Tour de France 2017 winner and British cyclist Christopher Froome will participate in the August 12 EXPO 2017 International Criterium cycling event in Astana, President of the Kazakhstan cycling federation Darkhan Kaletayev announced recently. “A criterium dedicated to EXPO will be held in Astana, with many of the world’s best riders coming. The…
