Latvia bring in 'Spanish armada' for U19 training camp
RIGA (Latvia) - Latvia will welcome a "Spanish armada" for their training camp for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2019 as seven of the 16 nominated players play their trade in Spain - including team leaders Arturs Kurucs and Arturs Zagars.
In addition to Kurucs of Baskonia and Zagars of Joventut Badalona, Latvia's 16-man player pool also features fellow Spain-based Armands Berkis and Valters Veveris from Morabanc Andorra, Ojars Berzins of UCAM Murcia, Anrijs Miska with Queseria LaAntigua and Marcis Steinbergs of Gran Canaria.
| Latvia's preliminary roster for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2019 | |||
| Armands Berkis | Ojars Berzins | Rodrigo Bumeisters | Rainers Hermanovskis |
| Oskars Hlebovickis | Kristaps Kilps | Arturs Kurucs | Ralfs Lacis |
| Niks Linis | Edvards Mezulis | Anrijs Miska | Adrians Snipke |
| Marcis Steinbergs | Valters Veveris | Davids Viksne | Arturs Zagars |
Head coach Arturs Visockis-Rubenis, who guided Latvia to second place at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2018 to qualify for the U19 World Cup, will start his first training camp on May 27. All 12 players from the U18 team last year are in the player pool while Berkis, Miska, Rainers Hermanovskis and Davids Viksne all played at the U18 European Championship in 2017.
The Latvians have seven test games planned against U19 teams from Russia (June 7 and 8), Lithuania (June 15 and 16), Australia (June 21) and China (June 25) and Estonia's U20 team (June 22).
Visockis-Rubenis admitted at the time it is not entirely certain if Zagars and Kilps will be able to play in Greece, where Latvia have been drawn into Group B with Australia, Canada and Mali as they are both recovering from injuries.
FIBA
