Mexico, Nov. 8, LETA. The Latvian 3×3 basketball team “Rīga” with Nauri Mieze, Kārlis Pauls Lasmanis, Agni Čavars and Edgars Krūmiņš won the World Tour in Mexico on Sunday.
“Riga”, which is seeded with the first number in the tournament, defeated the sixth numbered Puerto Rican unit of San Juan “PCI Group” in the title fight with the result 21:15.
Lasmanis was recognized as the most valuable player of the tournament. The Latvian team received 40,000 US dollars for the victory in the stage.
In the final, Miezis scored six points, six Lasmanis, five Krūmiņš and two Čavars, who also won six rebounds. Luis Ernandes had six points and nine balls under the basket for his opponents.
Barley’s three long shots gave the Latvians a quick lead with 6: 1, but Krūmiņš made a penalty shot and Lasmanis was accurate from a distance – already 9: 1 in favor of “Rīgas”. Opponents suppressed the Olympic champions’ quick breakthrough and approached minus three points (7:10).
The Latvian team responded with four points, but later, after the Lasmanis long-range team, they scored nine points (17:18). Krūmiņš was also accurate from afar and Latvia needed only one long shot to win the tournament (19: 9). Later, Lasmanis threw one of the two “penalties” and any subsequent throw could be the last for the Latvians. This was realized by Chavar at 21:15. In the last attacks of the game, Puerto Rican basketball players delighted the spectators with several effective episodes.
Before that, in the quarterfinals, Latvians won the Lithuanian quartet Šaķu “Gulbele” in the tournament with the result 21:15 and secured the victory in the season. Later in the semi-finals, the Latvian quartet beat the Russian unit “Gagarin”, which has the seventh number, with the result 21:17. Seven of the eight finalists for the Tokyo Olympics were on the field in the semi-final match, as the Olympic vice-champions alone did not play for the Russians in full.
The “Riga” competition started from the qualifying round, because the ticket to this tournament was won in the “Quest” level tournament in Perm, where he won the third place. In both qualifying games, the Rigans won on Saturday, beating the Puerto Rican team “Mayaguez” with 20:15 and defeating the Brazilian team “Rio Preto” with 21:16.
In the subgroup, the Latvians won the Russian team “Runa” with the result 22:14 and with 20:21 they gave in to the Mongolian team “Ulaanbaatar”, but the loss did not prevent them from entering the quarterfinals.
The Latvian team entered the top eight in all six World Tour tournaments this season, achieving the best result so far in Abu Dhabi last week, when they also won.
This is the last Masters tournament before the final stage in Jada.
–
