Baltic Cup Basketball Tournament in Riga to Feature Young Talents from Four Countries
From July 31 to August 2, the Baltic Cup for U16 teams will be held in Riga, with participation from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Spain, and Ukraine.
The Baltic Cup tournament for boys and girls U16 teams (born 2010) will take place at the Team Sports Hall in Riga from July 31 to August 2. In addition to the regular participants – Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania – this year the boys' competition includes Spain's cadet team, while the girls' tournament features the Ukrainian U16 national team.
The Spanish boys' team is known for its fast and aggressive style and has won the European U16 Championship six times. The Baltic Cup will serve as a key test before the European Championship, which for the boys starts on August 8 in Oradea, Romania.
For the Latvian cadet team, this is the final warm-up before the continental event. Recently, the team was joined by Benjamins Janis Berue, a talent raised in the USA whose mother is former Latvian national team player Lasma Jekabsone. In a test match against Israel, he scored 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Berue, along with Markus Jahovics and Gustavs Vilcans, already has experience from last year's European U16 Championship.
The Latvian U16 girls' team previously defeated Finland twice in away friendlies, avenging a loss in the winter Baltic Sea Cup. Since the girls' European Championship starts a week later than the boys', they will have time to correct mistakes noticed during the Baltic Cup.
Schedule: Girls start on July 31 at 3:30 PM against Estonia, followed by Lithuania on August 1 at 3:30 PM, and finish against Ukraine on August 2 at 4:00 PM. The boys' team faces Estonia and Lithuania on the first two days at 6:00 PM, with the final game against Spain on August 2 at 6:30 PM.
Fans are invited to attend the matches and support the young basketball players.
