Legendary surnames and Spanish flavor in Latvia nominations
RIGA (Latvia) - Hosts Latvia have started their training camp for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021 with a 16-player pool featuring many players with legendary surnames and a Spanish flair.
RIGA (Latvia) - Hosts Latvia have started their training camp for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021 with a 16-player pool featuring many players with legendary surnames and a significant Spanish flair.
Head coach Nikolajs Mazurs released a list of 25 players in March but shortened the pool for the camp, which started on May 31 and will include six exhibition games. Many of Latvia's top players are playing abroad, headlined by the Spain-based quintet of Rodijs Macoha, Kriss Helmanis, Freds Bagatskis, Davids Grimbergs and Toms Skuja.
| Latvia's preliminary roster for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021 | ||||
| Freds Bagatskis | Raivo Butirins | Karlis Daga-Krumins | Davis Denafs | Otto Farenhorsts |
| Kristians Feierbergs | Davids Grimbergs | Kriss Helmanis | Ricards Klanskis | Rodijs Macoha |
| Rihards Paradnieks | Toms Skuja | Kristians Sulcs | Ricards Vanags | Rihards Vavers |
| Noa Viljamsons | ||||
The forward Macoha made his Spanish ACB league debut in January 2021 playing for Fuenlabrada. Helmanis, the son of former long-time national team captain Uvis Helmanis, played with Joventut Badalona's farm team Prat. Bagatskis is developing his talent with Valencia's youth ranks, flashing a shooting ability similar to that of his father, Ainars Bagatskis, the top scorer in Latvian senior national team history and a former national team head coach.
Grimbergs meanwhile is one of the leaders for the Spanish fourth division EBA league team Burgos and Skuja is playing with EBA side Sant Antoni. Another talent plying his trade outside of Latvia is Kristians Feierbergs, who played at Get Better Academy in Prague and will play college basketball next season with the University of Maine in the United States.
"Players, who spent this season in Latvia, didn't have enough game practice. At least some of the guys had an opportunity to practice with professional teams. We'll make the model of our team through practices and exhibition games, and we'll try to emphasize everyone's best quality," Mazurs said.
The coach's team does have experience on the international stage for Latvia though as 13 of the 16 played at either the FIBA U16 European Championship in 2018 or 2019.
Latvia have been drawn into Group B of the tournament from July 3-11 in Daugavpils and Riga along with Puerto Rico, Iran and Serbia.
FIBA