The national team of Kazakhstan is six-time bronze medalist of the world championship. Last tournament they took only the 5th place and turned to be in the second strongest quartet. On the upcoming world championship the Kazakhs will do their best to get a place among the 4 strongest teams and prove that defeat in Sandviken has been the accident. This team is often called “the second Russian team” as there are players from the Russian championship and many of them are from the leading clubs. For example the charming Sergei Pochkunov, ex-player of the SKA- Neftyanik is still a favorite with the Khabarovsk supporters. The ethnic Kazakhs are only two in the team and they are Iskander Nugmanov and Rauan Isaliev.