While the Winter Olympics are underway in Italy, it is only natural that summer sports – including EuroLeague basketball – have temporarily taken a back seat. Yet even amid one of Europe’s most high-profile sporting seasons, the EuroLeague matchup in Belgrade between Serbia’s Partizan and Greece’s Panathinaikos became a platform for showcasing Kazakhstan’s tourism potential, as well as the recently launched direct Astana - Belgrade flight.
At the initiative of the Embassy of Kazakhstan, an interactive promotion was organized among the 18,000 spectators gathered at the Belgrade Arena. Fans were randomly selected for a free-throw shooting contest proposed by Partizan Basketball Club.
©Serjean Kadyrbai/Seyilkhan Aubakirov
The winner received a certificate for a two-person tourist trip to Kazakhstan, presented courtside by Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Serbia, Madi Atamkulov. Congratulating the prize recipient, the ambassador addressed the packed arena and invited the audience to visit Kazakhstan.
The festive atmosphere was enhanced by tourism videos from the “Born Bold Kazakhstan” campaign displayed on the arena screens, along with promotional footage of the direct Astana - Belgrade flight operated by Kazakhstan’s SCAT Airlines. Adding a distinctive cultural touch, young women dressed in traditional Kazakh attire distributed “Born Bold Kazakhstan” T-shirts and baseball caps to basketball fans.
The EuroLeague ranks second in Europe in terms of popularity and media reach among sporting competitions. Its regular season is broadcast in 199 countries worldwide, reaching a television audience of over one billion viewers.
