LAT - Latvia's Women as popular as ever

RIGA (EuroBasket Women 2011) – So what if Latvia didn’t make it to the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women!

They have, hands down, the most loved women’s team in all of Europe.

Correction.

They have the most loved team in the world.

That is the only conclusion one can draw after seeing them in action the last three years.

Thousands of fans followed the team to Madrid to support them and help them reach the Beijing Games via the 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

And it was even more apparent when supporters packed the Arena Riga to cheer them on whenever they played at the EuroBasket Women last year.

The disappointment of a seventh-place finish didn’t make the women's team any less appealing.

If anything, the Latvian public loves them even more.

The proof is that three of the country's leading players, Kristine Karklina, Gunta Basko and Anete Jekabsone-Zogota, are fronting ad campaigns for healthy products.

Jekabsone, the 2007 FIBA Europe Women's Player of the Year, is the face of Danone Actimel while Karklina endorses AXA cereals.

The latest to strike a deal is the hugely popular Gunta Basko.

She is the new face of Vichy water.

"We were very pleased that an independent survey found Latvian women's basketball player Gunta is popular and has the respect of fans,” Aldaris communications director Laura Krastina said.

"We're confident that Gunta will represent our Vichy water brand well, as it is meant just for people like Gunta - active, modern and joyful."

Basko, who is hoping to lead Latvia into next year's EuroBasket Women in Poland when they play in qualifying games this summer, said: "I was pleasantly surprised when I was offered the chance to become a Vichy messenger, and to take part in this interesting project."

FIBA