The 2022 season of international basketball will be launched by the Baltic Sea Cup U16 and U18 girls and boys teams, which will take place from January 3 to 5 in the Audentes gym in Tallinn.
The head coaches of the Latvian national teams Ainārs Čukste, Aigars Nerips, Gatis Melderis and Juris Umbraško evaluated 16-18 candidates in four-day training camps, from which twelve were selected for the start in Tallinn. The best situation is the U16 girls’ team, which has been gathering periodically since October and participating in the Latvian Women’s Basketball League tournament (five victories in eight games).
The composition of the Baltic Sea Cup has been affected by the pandemic. The Swedish Basketball Federation has refused to participate this time. Due to infections, a team of Finnish U18 boys and Polish cadets, who initially confirmed their participation instead of Swedes, are not traveling to Tallinn.
In the girls’ tournaments, Sweden’s second place in both age groups is taken by Finland’s second teams.
Audentes junior team will also take part in the boys’ U16 group tournament together with cadets from Latvia, Estonia and Finland.
Only three teams will play in the boys’ U18 group tournament – Latvia, Estonia and the Czech Republic.
The traditional Baltic Sea Cup calendar has been slightly adjusted. On Monday, the first day of the tournament, three of our teams will play with the first Finnish teams (14:15 cadets, 15:15 cadets, 16:30 juniors), but at 19:45 the Latvian U18 boys will play with the Czech juniors.
The tournament organizers will provide live video and statistics.
You can get acquainted with the team line-ups and game schedule at basket.lv. in the relevant sample section:
U16 girls
U16 guys
U18 girls
U18 guys.
Due to the pandemic, FIBA Europe canceled the European Youth Championships in 2020 and 2021. The 2022 calendar of competitions includes competitions for all age groups, and the start of the Baltic Sea Cup will be a valuable test for the new lineup. In the U16 age group (birth year 2006), Latvia will be represented in the A division of the European Championship in both girls ‘and boys’ competitions. In the U18 age group (2004/2005 birth year) the girls will play in Division A and the boys in Division B.
