Men’s national unit: individual trainings have started, brothers Bertāni and Rihards Lomažs are also in the ranks

Since Monday, June 6, the candidates of the Latvian men’s basketball national team have been provided with the opportunity to participate in voluntary individual training led by the national physical fitness coach Oskars Ernšteins at the Rimi Olympic Sports Center, as well as the national team’s volunteer coaches Mārtiņš Tīss and Kristaps Zeids.

This opportunity is used by the brothers Dairis and Dāvis Bertāni, Rihards Lomažs, Klāvs Čavars and Toms Leimanis, as well as Mārtiņš Laksa, Roberts Stumbris, Kārlis Šiliņš, Kārlis Žunda, Francis Lācis, Drijs Mišis, Anrijs Mežulis, Oskars Hlebovickis, Roberts Bērziņš and Reinis Avotiņš.

Several candidates of the national team train under the guidance of their personal trainers, several of them will continue to play in the national championships as part of club teams.

On Thursday, June 16, the official training camp of the national unit will start in Riga, preparing for the qualifying games of the 2023 World Cup with the teams of Serbia (Arena Riga on June 30; tickets here) and Slovakia (Levice on July 3).

In preparation for the matches with Serbia and Slovakia, the Latvian national team will hold a test match with the Lithuanian national team on Wednesday, June 22, which will be held as a basketball green ball, singing Midsummer – with musical performances and honoring the longtime captain of the national team Jānis Blūms (starting at 18:30; tickets here).

The Latvian national team has won three victories (over the Slovak national team and twice over Belgium) in the first four games of Group A of the 2023 World Cup qualifying tournament, as well as suffered a minimal loss in Serbia. The Latvian and Serbian national teams have already secured the right to play in the second stage of the qualification. In the game on June 30, Latvia – Serbia will decide which team will take the 1st place in the group (the results of the mutual games will be taken along).

In the second stage, the top three teams in Group A will compete with the teams in Group B (Greece, Turkey and the UK). The two games will take place in August, November and February 2023, the schedule will depend on the order of the places in the final table of the group. The top three teams out of six will qualify for the final tournament.

2023 World Cup Qualifiers, European Zone, Group A.

June 30: Latvia – Serbia, Belgium – Slovakia

July 3: Slovakia – Latvia, Serbia – Belgium

Group B (Belarus sample excluded). After 4 rounds: Greece 2-1, Turkey 1-2, Great Britain 1-1. June 30: Greece – Great Britain. July 3: Great Britain – Turkey.

C group. After 4 rounds: Finland 3-1, Slovenia 2-2 Sweden 2-2, Croatia 1-3. June 30: Finland – Sweden, Slovenia – Croatia. July 3: Sweden – Slovenia, Croatia – Finland.

D group. After 4 rounds: Germany 3-1, Israel 2-2, Estonia 2-2, Poland 1-3. June 30: Poland – Israel, Estonia – Germany. July 3: Germany – Poland, Israel – Estonia.

It’s a group. After 4 rounds: France * 4-0, Montenegro 2-2, Hungary 2-2, Portugal 0-4. July 1: Hungary – Portugal, Montenegro – France. July 4: Portugal – Montenegro, France – Hungary.

Group F. After 4 rounds: Lithuania * 4-0. Bosnia 2-2, Bulgaria 1-3, Czech Republic 1-3. July 1: Czech Republic – Bosnia, Bulgaria – Lithuania. July 4: Lithuania – Czech Republic, Bosnia – Bulgaria.

Group G. After 4 rounds: Spain * 3-0, Georgia * 3-1, Ukraine 1-2, Northern Macedonia 0-4. July 1: Ukraine – Georgia, Spain – Northern Macedonia. July 4: Northern Macedonia – Ukraine, Georgia – Spain. July 7: Ukraine – Spain.

Group X. February 24 (Russia excluded). After 4 rounds: Italy 2-1, Iceland 2-1, The Netherlands 0-2. July 1: Iceland – The Netherlands. July 4: The Netherlands – Italy.

The top three teams in each group will qualify for Stage 2, where they will play 6 more games with adjacent teams (A + B, C + D, E + F, G + H). The teams of groups A, B, G and H will take with them to the 2nd stage only the results in the matches between the teams of the first three, the three best teams of groups C, D, E and F will take with them the results of all games.

* Teams marked with an asterisk have already secured the right to play in Stage 2.

The 12 best European teams (three from each Stage 2 group) will receive tickets to the PK Final Tournament in September 2023 in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The teams that will remain in 4th place in the groups in Stage 1 will take part in the pre-qualification tournament for the 2025 European Championship.