The head coach of the Russian national team is also the head coach of «Nizhny Novgorod» Zoran Lukic named the extended list of players who will prepare for the November qualifying matches for the World Cup 2023.
Among the 20 candidates for the final squad were five players of «Nizhny Novgorod»: Ivan Strebkov, Mikhail Kulagin, Anton Astapkovich, Sergey Toropov and Alexander Gankevich. Moreover, 32-year-old Toropov and 26-year-old Gankevich were invited to the base of the national team for the first time.
Unfortunately, the BC «NN» captain and Russian national team vice-captain Evgeny Baburin is absent because of recovering from back surgery and has to skip the November window.
Point guards:
Vladislav Yemchenko – 22 years, «Lokomotiv-Kuban»
Georgy Zhbanov – 24, UNICS
Vyacheslav Zaitsev – 32 years old, UNICS
Denis Zakharov – 28 years, «Zenit»
Artem Komolov – 28 years old, UNICS
Dmitry Kulagin – 29 years, «Zenit»
Mikhail Kulagin – 27 years, «Nizhny Novgorod»
Ivan Strebkov – 30 years, «Nizhny Novgorod»
Alexander Khomenko – 22, CSKA
Forwards:
Semen Antonov – 32 years old, CSKA
Anton Astapkovich – 27 years, «Nizhny Novgorod»
Yevgeny Valiev – 31 years old, UNICS
Igor Volkhin – 24 years, «Zenit»
Filipp Gafurov – 20, CSKA-2
Andrey Zubkov – 20 years, «Zenit»
Stanislav Ilnitsky – 27 years, «Lokomotiv-Kuban»
Andrey Martyuk – 21 years old, «Lokomotiv-Kuban»
Sergey Toropov – 32 years old, «Nizhny Novgorod»
Centers:
Alexander Gankevich – 26 years old, «Nizhny Novgorod»
Vladimir Ivlev – 31 years old, CSKA
Reserve
Evgeny Voronov – 35 years, «PARMA»
Anton Kvitkovsky – 21 years old, «Avtodor»
Ivan Ukhov – 26, CSKA
November window of FIBA 2021 will pass for our national team in the home atmosphere. Both matches in the 2023 World Cup qualifier will be played in Saint Petersburg.
26 November, 19:00 – Russia – Italy (Match!TV)
29 November, 20:00 – Russia – Iceland (Match!TV)
The fees start on November 18 on the basis of «Zenit» basketball academy and 18 players will participate in. Andrey Zubkov and Dmitry Kulagin will be at the disposal of the national team only for the second game, after helping «Zenit» in the guest match of the Euroleague with «Panathinaikos» on November 25. Three more players are included in the reserve list and will join the national team if necessary.
