Youth team heads to Kazakhstan

Zenit U21 will play an away tour of the VTB United Youth League in the capital of Kazakhstan. The matches against the local Astana Zhastar team will take place on January 25 at 15:00 and on January 26 at 17:00 St. Petersburg time.

The Kazakh team, making its debut in the Youth League this season, currently sits in 13th (second to last) place in the standings with three wins from 32 games. Yakov Fokin's squad last won in a December match against Enisey-2.

The leaders of Astana Zhastar are guard Zakhar Medovskoy, who averages 15.1 points per game (top-3 in the League), and forward Ilya Pestov, who ranks among the tournament's top five players both in scoring (14.3 points) and rebounding (6.8 rebounds).

Zenit U21 guard Alexander Porotnikov shared his thoughts ahead of the upcoming tour:

We've managed to fully recover after the matches with MBA. What would I note about Astana Zhastar's game? They have several players capable of scoring tough points. We need to work on our defense with communication and develop fast breaks, as the opponent has problems getting back on defense.

The matches will be broadcast on the VTB United Youth League website and on VK Video.