Zenit youth teams will perform in the Semifinal stage of the Russian junior Championship
From December 15 to 20, the first round of the Semifinal stage of the Russian U19 Championship will take place in St. Petersburg. All matches of the next stage of the Children’s Youth Basketball League will be held at the Zenit Basketball Academy.
Earlier, in the preliminary round of the CYBL, Zenit U19 won four consecutive victories and topped their group. The head coach of St. Petersburg team, Dmitry Nikolaev, shared his expectations for the upcoming round of the competition:
We are expecting a tough tournament, with the best teams from the preliminary round participating. The opposing teams include players with experience in the VTB Youth League and the Super League. The games will be challenging and interesting. I expect professionalism from our players, a strong desire to succeed, emotions, and quality basketball.
In addition to Zenit U19 in the subgroup "P1-1" under the leadership of Petar Marinkovic will play Zenit 2008, as well as Rusichi-CYBL from Kursk, CSKA-CYBL and MBA-CYBL from Moscow and also Samara-CYBL. On the first day of the competition, both Zenit teams will face each other.
On the same days Nizhny Tagil will host matches of the subgroup "P1-5", in which Zenit 2009 will play. Vladislav Shumkov's wards will face Ilmer Sparta (Veliky Novgorod), basketball school Enisey (Krasnoyarsk region), SSOR №2 Juventa (Tolyatti), a team from Kaliningrad region and MBA-Academy (Moscow).
Full schedule of games according to St. Petersburg time:
December 15
11:00 — Ilmer Sparta vs. Zenit 2009
19:00 — Zenit 2008 vs. Zenit U19
December 16
12:15 — Samara-CYBL vs. Zenit 2008
12:30 — Zenit 2009 vs. basketball school Enisey
14:30 — Zenit U19 vs. Rusichi-CYBL
December 17
10:00 — Zenit 2008 vs. MBA-CYBL
12:30 — SSOR №2 Juventa vs. Zenit 2009
14:30 — Samara-CYBL vs. Zenit U19
December 19
08:00 — Zenit 2009 vs. Kaliningrad region
10:00 — Rusichi-СYBL vs. Zenit 2008
14:30 — Zenit U19 vs. CSKA-СYBL
December 20
10:15 — Zenit 2009 vs. MBA-Academy
16:30 — Zenit 2008 vs. CSKA-CYBL
18:45 — MBA-CYBL vs. Zenit U19
Information about live broadcasts will be posted on the Zenit Basketball Academy’s social media on the day of each match. Entrance to the arena (Severnaya Road, 12) is free for all games. Come and support the blue-whites team!
