ASTANA (Kazakhstan) – Suiting up for the National Team is the dream every youngster grows up with since the first day he starts balling. In that sense, November 2024 marked a “dream come true moment” in the life of Daniil Severgin, when he entered the court against India in the Group E encounter of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers Window 2.
Kazakhstan went down, rather regrettably to India in a 69-88 surprise defeat, but it was an achievement of sorts for the 20 year-old Almaty Legion point guard on a personal level.
“It felt amazing! I might say it was more than a dream, it was one of my significant goals in my life; the next step is to truly influence team to win in the upcoming home games,” he said.
Severgin got just about 10 minutes of playing time in that game, but made a mark dishing out 5 assists.
I had a lot of jitters before my first minute on the court and I had to fight it off. But thanks to this experience I will be more confident in my attack in the upcoming games,
Making a mark in a short time is not new for Severgin.
He was after all, the team leader in four departments – scoring (20.7 per game), rebounds (7.3 per game), assists (3.7 per game) and steals (5 per game) in three games – when Kazakhstan fought their way through the group phase before bowing out to Philippines at the Qualification to Quarter-Finals level in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup 2022 at Qatar.
It is that confidence that probably helps him analyse the current situation of the Kazakhstan National Team with clarity.
“As a team we didn’t play organized basketball as we should do against high level teams. That’s why India has so much fast break points on us. And there was a certain lack of teamwork in defense,” he was crystal clear in his analysis of the defeat to India. Kazakhstan went into that game with a 2-1 cushion, but ended up behind India in the standings in Group E due to that loss.
Kazakhstan are currently at No 4 in Group E needing to win both their games in Window 3 – against Qatar on Feb 21 and Iran three days thence – to remain in contention for a place at the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Jeddah.
Severgin counts upon his current form to keep him in good stead for a contributing role for Kazakhstan in the Window 3 games. He is currently averaging almost 17 point per game with almost 50% field shooting and dishing out a healthy 7 assists per game for Almaty Legion in the ongoing Kazakhstan National League.
“Honestly I don’t know who will make the final roster (out of the 18 players who are called for the camp), but I am better prepared for the challenges this time. I hope to get more playing time and help the team in all the ways required, from organizing an offense to tight defense over the players of Qatar and Iran,” he said.
The advantage of playing the two critical games at home was not lost on Severgin.
“This (playing at home) is a big advantage, no doubt,” he said.
“Thanks to the popularization of basketball in our country, there are more fans in each game. And playing in front of thousands of fans is very energizing,” he added.
He also had a call to the Kazakhstan fans to witness the game live.
“We need to win both games at home in order to qualify. So I call upon all of our fans to support us by coming to Astana and cheer for us. Hope we can break the record of audience this time!”
FIBA