Latvia U18 face Bulgaria in survival match at European Championship
Latvia's U18 basketball team must win two remaining games to stay in the top division, starting with a match against winless Bulgaria.
The Latvian U18 men's basketball team will play a decisive match to keep their place in the top division of the European Championship. Their opponent will be Bulgaria, who have not won a game in the tournament so far. The match for 13th–16th place is scheduled for 1 August at 14:00.
Latvia have recorded one victory in the tournament, beating Estonia 64:58. In the group stage they lost to Italy (68:89) and Spain (87:92), while in the knockout round they were defeated by Slovenia (76:86) and Denmark (65:68). Bulgaria have yet to win: they lost to Germany (58:104), Lithuania (69:90) and Slovenia (66:88) in the group stage, and later fell to Spain (66:99) and Serbia (62:89) in the playoff round.
Latvia's top scorers in the tournament are Roberts Rotčenkovs and Raivo Kudrjavcevs. Rotčenkovs is averaging 11.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, while Kudrjavcevs averages 11.0 points, 4.8 assists and 2.6 rebounds. For Bulgaria, the most productive players have been Kalojan Kolev (15.2 points, 6.4 rebounds) and Kristijan Zanov (11.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.8 blocks).
Bulgaria won European bronze medals in 1980 and 1982, but in recent years have mostly played in the B division. Last year the team returned to the elite after a 12-year gap and finished 13th, beating Sweden and North Macedonia in the survival round. Latvia finished fourth at last year's championship.
The three weakest teams in the top division will be relegated. To remain in the elite, Latvia must finish the tournament with two wins in two games. The first of those will be against Bulgaria.
