Emil Rajkovic approved as head coach of the men's national team
14.11.2019 Views: 968
Source: Press service
The coaching staff of the men's national basketball team of Kazakhstan for the upcoming qualification of the 2021 Asian Cup will be headed by the head coach of the Astana Presidential Basketball Club - Macedonian specialist Emil Raikovich.
Emil Rajkovic - is a former Macedonian professional basketball player. He began his coaching career in 2006 as a coach of the Macedonian club "KK Feni Industries" (2006 - 2013), also headed the coaching staffs of "KK Rabotnicki" from Macedonia (2013/2014) and the Polish "Shlensk-Wroclaw" (2014 - 2016) ... He was named Coach of the Year four times in the Macedonian Championship between 2008 and 2014. In the Polish league, he was recognized as the "Best coach" for the last two years in 2017 and 2018. With the Macedonian team, KK Feni Industries won the Balkan League in 2011. In Europe, Emil Raikovich is known as an unyielding and born winner. He is one of the galaxy of new generation coaches from the former Republic of Yugoslavia who are predicted to have a great future. In addition to high coaching qualifications, he is an excellent motivator and is well versed in psychology.
Under the leadership of Emil Raikovich, the capital "Astana" held the best VTB United League season in its history - 2018/2019. In the United League championship, the Kazakh team won a record 15 victories (57.7% is also the best result), which allowed it to take 6th place at the end of the season. Also, for the first time in the history of the League, "Astana" had a positive balance of scored and missed points on average at the end of the regular season (+2.7). In March, the capital's basketball players broke their own record for the number of victories in the regular season - 13, and after their success in the game against Yenisei, they showed the best result in terms of the percentage of won matches - 60. The team from the capital of Kazakhstan taught everyone to fight until the last seconds. Quite often, Astana did not start the meeting very successfully, but thanks to the changes that the coaching staff introduced during the game, the team managed to recoup and gain strong-willed victories. As for the success of Emil Raikovich's wards in Kazakhstani tournaments, under his leadership, "Astana" won its 7th Cup of Kazakhstan, and the main achievement was the 7th victory in the Championship of Kazakhstan, thanks to which "Astana" became the most titled men's team in the country.
Emil Raikovich's contribution to the team's progress did not go unnoticed and he was recognized as the best coach of the VTB United League championship of the 2018/2019 season. The award ceremony took place in Nur-Sultan before the third match of the quarterfinals of the playoff series between Astana and Khimki near Moscow.
Immediately after signing the contract, Emil Rajkovic answered the most pressing questions regarding Steppenwolfs and the upcoming qualification for the 2021 Asian Cup.
- Congratulations on your appointment! This will be your first experience as the head coach of the National Team, won't it?
- Quite right, this will be the first experience in my career as the head coach of the National Team. This is a great honor for me and I express my deep gratitude to the leadership of the National Basketball Federation and the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan for their trust. Previously, I was the head coach of the youth teams U-18 and U-20, and I was also the assistant head coach of the Macedonian national team.
- You know firsthand about the Kazakhstan national team and you probably followed the participation of your players in the National team in the qualification for the 2019 World Cup. How can you assess their performance?
- Of course, I followed the performance of the Kazakhstan national team at the qualification games for the 2019 World Cup and watched every game. I think our guys did a good job, they played with a lot of motivation and made their best effort. It is worth noting that the Kazakhstan national team in the second round had a very difficult group and strong rivals, but nevertheless, the results were very good. The result shown in the first game against the Philippines national team deserves special attention. Unfortunately, the team could not win the second match, which took place on the home court, and this was the main reason that Kazakhstan could not take part in the world championship. I hope that we will achieve even greater results and that each player will contribute to the success of the national team.
- Will Astana again become the base club of the national team and will you attract players from other Kazakhstani clubs?
- Many players of "Astana" are the best players in Kazakhstan and they will definitely play in the national team of Kazakhstan. As for players from other clubs, we constantly monitor the situation in preparation for the matches of the National League and look closely at the best players of our rivals. But at the moment I can’t say for sure who we will call to the national team, as we need to conduct a deeper analysis.
- Now you have to combine the coaching process of the team with the preparation of the national team for the matches of the qualifying stage for the 2021 Asian Cup. Do you see there are some difficulties in this, or, on the contrary, will it only be beneficial?
- The fact that the players of the presidential basketball club form the core of the national team is a great advantage, since we will have more time to create the best playing combinations and effectively prepare for the 2021 Asian Cup.
- We cannot but ask a question about Anthony Clemons - should we expect him in the rotation of the National Team of Kazakhstan?
- Of course, we will include Anthony Clemons in the rotation of the national team.
- Last season you took Astana to a new level in the VTB United League and the Championship of Kazakhstan. How are you going to apply your secret of success in working with the national team?
- In fact, there is no secret of success, behind every victory there is only hard and hard work. Basketball, like other team sports, is a game where there are two opponents, so not everything depends only on you. But with our knowledge and well-built tactics, we will try to prepare our team to win as many qualifying games as possible and get a ticket to the Asian Championship 2021.
Recall that on June 8, 2019 in India, in the city of Bangalore, the draw for the qualifying tournament for the Asian Cup in basketball among men's teams in 2021 took place, as a result of which the rivals of Steppenwolfs in the group became known, and at the end of July FIBA published the schedule of matches. which, like the qualification for the World Cup, will be held in a traveling system in 3 game windows. The first window is scheduled for late February 2020, the second window will be played in November 2020, and the third and final game window will be played in February 2021.
Stay up to date with all the events of Kazakhstani basketball, follow the news on our website and subscribe to our social networks Facebook, Vkontakte and YouTube channel.
Emil Rajkovic - is a former Macedonian professional basketball player. He began his coaching career in 2006 as a coach of the Macedonian club "KK Feni Industries" (2006 - 2013), also headed the coaching staffs of "KK Rabotnicki" from Macedonia (2013/2014) and the Polish "Shlensk-Wroclaw" (2014 - 2016) ... He was named Coach of the Year four times in the Macedonian Championship between 2008 and 2014. In the Polish league, he was recognized as the "Best coach" for the last two years in 2017 and 2018. With the Macedonian team, KK Feni Industries won the Balkan League in 2011. In Europe, Emil Raikovich is known as an unyielding and born winner. He is one of the galaxy of new generation coaches from the former Republic of Yugoslavia who are predicted to have a great future. In addition to high coaching qualifications, he is an excellent motivator and is well versed in psychology.
Under the leadership of Emil Raikovich, the capital "Astana" held the best VTB United League season in its history - 2018/2019. In the United League championship, the Kazakh team won a record 15 victories (57.7% is also the best result), which allowed it to take 6th place at the end of the season. Also, for the first time in the history of the League, "Astana" had a positive balance of scored and missed points on average at the end of the regular season (+2.7). In March, the capital's basketball players broke their own record for the number of victories in the regular season - 13, and after their success in the game against Yenisei, they showed the best result in terms of the percentage of won matches - 60. The team from the capital of Kazakhstan taught everyone to fight until the last seconds. Quite often, Astana did not start the meeting very successfully, but thanks to the changes that the coaching staff introduced during the game, the team managed to recoup and gain strong-willed victories. As for the success of Emil Raikovich's wards in Kazakhstani tournaments, under his leadership, "Astana" won its 7th Cup of Kazakhstan, and the main achievement was the 7th victory in the Championship of Kazakhstan, thanks to which "Astana" became the most titled men's team in the country.
Emil Raikovich's contribution to the team's progress did not go unnoticed and he was recognized as the best coach of the VTB United League championship of the 2018/2019 season. The award ceremony took place in Nur-Sultan before the third match of the quarterfinals of the playoff series between Astana and Khimki near Moscow.
Immediately after signing the contract, Emil Rajkovic answered the most pressing questions regarding Steppenwolfs and the upcoming qualification for the 2021 Asian Cup.
- Congratulations on your appointment! This will be your first experience as the head coach of the National Team, won't it?
- Quite right, this will be the first experience in my career as the head coach of the National Team. This is a great honor for me and I express my deep gratitude to the leadership of the National Basketball Federation and the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan for their trust. Previously, I was the head coach of the youth teams U-18 and U-20, and I was also the assistant head coach of the Macedonian national team.
- You know firsthand about the Kazakhstan national team and you probably followed the participation of your players in the National team in the qualification for the 2019 World Cup. How can you assess their performance?
- Of course, I followed the performance of the Kazakhstan national team at the qualification games for the 2019 World Cup and watched every game. I think our guys did a good job, they played with a lot of motivation and made their best effort. It is worth noting that the Kazakhstan national team in the second round had a very difficult group and strong rivals, but nevertheless, the results were very good. The result shown in the first game against the Philippines national team deserves special attention. Unfortunately, the team could not win the second match, which took place on the home court, and this was the main reason that Kazakhstan could not take part in the world championship. I hope that we will achieve even greater results and that each player will contribute to the success of the national team.
- Will Astana again become the base club of the national team and will you attract players from other Kazakhstani clubs?
- Many players of "Astana" are the best players in Kazakhstan and they will definitely play in the national team of Kazakhstan. As for players from other clubs, we constantly monitor the situation in preparation for the matches of the National League and look closely at the best players of our rivals. But at the moment I can’t say for sure who we will call to the national team, as we need to conduct a deeper analysis.
- Now you have to combine the coaching process of the team with the preparation of the national team for the matches of the qualifying stage for the 2021 Asian Cup. Do you see there are some difficulties in this, or, on the contrary, will it only be beneficial?
- The fact that the players of the presidential basketball club form the core of the national team is a great advantage, since we will have more time to create the best playing combinations and effectively prepare for the 2021 Asian Cup.
- We cannot but ask a question about Anthony Clemons - should we expect him in the rotation of the National Team of Kazakhstan?
- Of course, we will include Anthony Clemons in the rotation of the national team.
- Last season you took Astana to a new level in the VTB United League and the Championship of Kazakhstan. How are you going to apply your secret of success in working with the national team?
- In fact, there is no secret of success, behind every victory there is only hard and hard work. Basketball, like other team sports, is a game where there are two opponents, so not everything depends only on you. But with our knowledge and well-built tactics, we will try to prepare our team to win as many qualifying games as possible and get a ticket to the Asian Championship 2021.
Recall that on June 8, 2019 in India, in the city of Bangalore, the draw for the qualifying tournament for the Asian Cup in basketball among men's teams in 2021 took place, as a result of which the rivals of Steppenwolfs in the group became known, and at the end of July FIBA published the schedule of matches. which, like the qualification for the World Cup, will be held in a traveling system in 3 game windows. The first window is scheduled for late February 2020, the second window will be played in November 2020, and the third and final game window will be played in February 2021.
Stay up to date with all the events of Kazakhstani basketball, follow the news on our website and subscribe to our social networks Facebook, Vkontakte and YouTube channel.
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