|
| |
*** INTRODUCTION TO LATVIAN BASKETBALL ***
Latvia has a long basketball tradition. Latvia
won the first European championship in 1935 and hosted the second
championship in 1937.
In Soviet period, Latvian men's basketball team, ASK Rīga was dominant in
the Soviet League in 1950s and early 1960s, winning several Soviet league
championships and three European Champion's Cups, in 1958, 1959 and 1960. In
1960 Summer Olympics, four Latvians, Jānis Krūmiņš, Valdis Muižnieks, Cēzars
Ozers and Maigonis Valdmanis were a part of the silver-medal winning Soviet
team. Soviet Olympic teams in 1956 and 1964 Summer Olympics had three
Latvian players each. The Soviet team in 1952 Summer Olympics had one
Latvian.
The women's team, TTT Riga was very successful in 1970s and 1980s, winning
European Champion's Cup 18 times, more than any other team in any team
sport. 2.12 m (7 foot) tall Uljana Semjonova was the women's key player in
this period. She was also very dominant with Soviet team in international
games, never losing a game in international competitions and winning 2
Olympic and 3 World Championships.
For men's basketball, the guard Valdis Valters was the most highly acclaimed
player of 1980s. He won a European Championship with Soviet team in 1981 and
was recognized as the MVP of the tournament, but did not get a chance to
play in Olympics, because of the Soviet boycott of 1984 Summer Olympics in
Los Angeles which coincided with Valter's best playing years. Another
Latvia, Igors Miglinieks won gold with the Soviet team four years later, in
1988 Summer Olympics.
Latvia returned to international competition as an independent country in
1992. The qualifiers of 1992 Summer Olympics were the first tournament for
Latvia's team. A major controversy was caused by two Latvian players, Igors
Miglinieks and Gundars Vētra. They had a choice of either playing for the
Unified Team which was certain to qualify for Olympics or Latvian national
team which had a chance but was not certain to qualify. The two players
chose to play for Unified Team and Latvian team, playing without them,
failed to qualify for Olympics. This caused a long resentment in Latvia and
the two players never played for Latvia in an international game.
After the country regaining independence, the most successful tournament for
Latvia was 2001 European Championships when the Latvian team finished in the
8th place. The center/power forward Kaspars Kambala was Latvia's best player
in this tournament. Latvia's national championship, Latvijas Basketbola
Līga, was dominated by Brocēni team in 1990s and Ventspils team in 2000s. In
2004, Ventspils team won its fifth consecutive championship.
Gundars Vētra became the first Latvian in NBA when he briefly played in
Minnesota Timberwolves for 13 games in 1993. Andris Biedrinsh was drafted
2004 in NBA as 11th by Golden State Warriors and is expected to become the
second Latvian to play in NBA.
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Copyright © 1998-2008 Eurobasket Inc. Disclaimer
WARNING:
Do not copy, redistribute, publish or otherwise exploit information that you download from the site!
Do not encumber, license, modify, publish, sell, transfer or transmit, or in any way exploit, any of the
content of the site, nor will you attempt to do so.
|
