This was Kaspar’s first time not only in Asia, but also at the desk of a sports journalist abroad. He spoke about this and other trials in Indonesia in an interview with the magazine “Rīgas Viļnī”.
What are your first impressions of Asia?
Cool! But what is written about Jakarta is immediately noticeable – that it is the most polluted city in the world in terms of air quality. It’s true. There is insane smog, insane heat, which makes it unpleasant to stay outside. In the first days, we got to know the local food. Tasty, but quite sharp, which the guy didn’t like very much. Want something more peaceful. Now we eat in a cafe owned by a German and where there is European cuisine.
Kaspars Dvinskis. (Photo: from private archive)
How do you feel air pollution?
It’s hard to breathe. Terribly dry, you can’t get a breath of fresh air, as they say. All the time it seems that the breath is short.
Is this the most exotic basketball event yet? At least, looking at you emotionally, it seems that the most powerful!
Not only the most exotic in the sense that I’m in a competition of this level and on the other side of the world… In general, I’m commenting for the first time outside of Latvia. I started commenting at the end of 2015. Everything that has been commented on has been commented on in Latvia. Mostly from the “Go3 Sports Channel” – remotely; now and then also from “Arena Riga”, if games were held there. But abroad – from the sidelines and in person – for the first time.
So I’m wrong to think you’ve been to the Olympics?
No, I have never been to the Olympics before. Has not met yet. I hope that there will be the first games in Paris and I will join our basketball team there.
“Smooth and pleasant Latvian language, reaction, knowledge, emotions, and you don’t have to look for the word in your pocket,” the sports commentator’s performance on the TV screen is praised by the audience. (Photo: from private archive)
You have been a basketball player yourself. Seeing that you have focused on different sports in journalism, I had the impression that the supremacy of basketball in your life is beginning to disappear. Is this the moment when basketball confidently returns to your heart?
Yes, basketball has taken my heart not only 100 percent, but 150 percent. Since we took off from Riga airport and set off, everything is about basketball.
You have said in interviews that commenting on sports is more difficult than reporting on it. When the European basketball championship was held, you said that you have to get along, “no matter what.” [tiesnesi] wouldn’t be called an idiot”. I admit that in this sense these games are even more of a challenge…
There is always a good option – when you want to curse or say a harsh word that does not suit the air, press the button on the microphone. It has been done now and then in this tournament. And above all, about the judges. It is… baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat beenied up. I really don’t like referees. It seems silly – the best basketball players in the world are playing, at least FIBA is trying to get them, but the referees are nowhere near the highest standard. If, for example, the best leagues in the world are NBA and Euroleague, then are there NBA and Euroleague level referees here? No! While the players – yes! Of course, the referees are already doing everything they can, but if they judge three times slower basketball on a daily basis, then here they get worried and are a little confused when they see completely different speeds that they are not used to on a daily basis.
How is Kristaps Porzingis perceived there, does he give many interviews? Asia, however, is the NBA’s biggest market after the United States.
Kristaps has a lot of fans here. I saw one guy with a unicorn and Porzingis’s last name tattooed on him. Everyone recognizes Kristaps and greets him, tries to take a picture, asks him to sign something. Kristaps already knows that he is a brand and is responsive in such situations.
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About how many fans have you come from Latvia?
Hard to count. I would say that at its peak there were about two and a half to three thousand Latvian fans in the stands.
How much are tickets for the game?
From 5 to 150 euros.
I heard how the fans here in Riga were judging how much beer could cost there.
About two euros in shops, I haven’t seen it in cafes. I know that there is no trade in the arena. I didn’t buy it myself, I had to go to the dentist to have a tooth pulled, then I had a course of antibiotics, so I haven’t bought beer.
So serious that a tooth had to be pulled?
Yes. There was an old ailment in one tooth that made itself felt on the long flight from Amsterdam to Singapore. In the first days, it became quite crazy, there was also swelling, nothing happened without the dentist’s intervention. But dentistry here is very good and relatively cheap. It was quite successful. For the time being. In Latvia, the process will have to be continued, but for a little more euro than here.
What is the bill? You probably appreciated the travel insurance…
Dental tourism is quite common here, people even fly here from Australia to get their teeth fixed. Of course, there is insurance, because FIBA does not issue accreditation at all if you do not have travel insurance. I went to the dentist twice. The first visit was to the military hospital, where it cost 26 euros for a consultation, X-ray, two types of antibiotics, and painkillers. It was the closest place to the arena. After that, I asked the organizers which would be not the nearest, but the best dentistry. One of the coordinators – a local from Jakarta – recommended her dentist. In her already much more modern dentistry, tooth extraction was around 90 euros.
I imagine the feeling of having a toothache, having to prepare for a game, so much work and thinking about what to do with it all… Are you not one of the men who are afraid of doctors?
I am very afraid of dentists, because I was quite “excited” as a child. I’m still afraid, even though I know there will be anesthesia and it won’t hurt. The eyelids sweat anyway.
You were gone for almost three weeks. A big test for a family man…
Yes, I have not been away from my family for so long. The first thing I’m going to do when I get back is hug all three of my girls really tight and don’t let go for a long time. I miss Dora, Grieta and Ruta very much, I miss my girls very much.
KASPAR DVINSKIS
Born in 1989. He came to TV by helping his father in his work as a video engineer at the LNT channel. Sports news began to be compiled, replacing Lauri Lizbovski. Studied business at the Banking University. He played basketball himself, which was prevented from continuing by injuries. Made it to the Latvian U-16 national team. Wife: TV colleague Ruta Dwinska (Čivča). Father of two daughters.
2023-09-16 03:25:00
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