On Monday, the two teams will meet again in Belgium, the match starting at 21.30 Latvian time
This time, head coach Luka Banki watched the game from the stands, but his assistant Jānis Gailītis led the team in the fight.
The Latvian team has already secured the right to play in the final tournament, which will take place in Riga in August and September 2025. For other teams of Group C – Belgium, Slovakia and Spain – the results of the games with the Latvian team will be taken into account when determining the winners of two tickets.
The Latvian team defeated the Spanish national team (79:75) away from home in the Group C tournament in February, and the Slovak team (64:52) at home. The Belgian team beat Slovakia away (75:60) and beat the Spanish national team (58:53) at home.
From the quartet of Group C, the right to participate in the European Championship will be won by the Latvian national team as the host of the final tournament and two other best teams.
The Latvian national team ranks ninth in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) ranking, while the Belgian national team ranks 39th.
The EC qualification tournament for the Latvian team will end in February 2025 with a match in Riga against the Spanish national team and an away match in Slovakia.
The list of candidates for the Latvian national team for matches with the Belgian national team:
Krišs Helmanis, Dāvids Vīksne, Roberts Bērziņš, Toms Skuja, Juris Vītols (all – “Rīgas Zeļļi”), Ojārs Siliņš (Warsaw “Legia”, Poland), Artūrs Strautiņš (Tortona “Derthona”, Italy), Artis Ate (“Valmiera Glass” University”), Klaav Chavar (Baku “Sabah”, Azerbaijan), Rihards Lomaž (Denizli “Yukatel Merkezefendi”, Turkey), Marcis Šteinberg (Manrezas “Baxi”, Spain), Kristaps Ćilps, Rodijs Macoha (both – “Liepāja”), Kārlis Šiliņš (“Pistoia”, Italy), Kristers Zorik (“Le Portel”, France) .
The list of Belgian national team candidates for matches with Latvia:
Joe Onyeka Agu (“Brussels Basketball”, Belgium), Roel Bukumi (Leuven “Bears”, Belgium), Niels de Ridder, Sean Pudet (both – Kortrijk “Spurs”, Belgium), Theis de Ridder (Bilbao, Spain) , Pierre-Antoine Gillet, Noah Meusen, Jope Mennes, Mateo Verstrete (all – Ostend “Filou”, Belgium), Oscar Gillet, Joe van Bougainville (both – Limburg United, Belgium), Mamadou Gis (CSP Limoges, France), Arcange Izot Bolaviy (Charleroi “Spirou”, Belgium), Emmanuel Lecomte (Lubins “Start”, Poland), Siebe Ledegen, Niels van den Einde (both – Aalst “Okapi”, Belgium), Nathan Misja-Dio (Blois “Basket 41”, France), Reten Obasohan (Baxi of Manreza, Spain), Loic Schwartz (Saint-Quentin, France), Andy van Vleet (Trefl of Sopot, Bulgaria), Hans Vanwijn (Hapoel Gilboa Galil, Israel).
Source: www.diena.lv
