“VEF Rīga” goes to Valmiera, “Ogre” – to Ventspils

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Today, three regular championship games of the Pafbet Latvian-Estonian Basketball League (LIBL) will take place in Liepaja, Ventspils and Valmiera.

First at 2 pm, “Liepāja” will compete with “University of Latvia” at the Liepāja Olympic Center. The match will be broadcast live on the league’s official YouTube channel.

Both teams are in the last places in the ranking of Latvian teams. Liepāja residents with two victories in seven games are fifth, but LU with losses in all seven games can be found in the sixth position.

“Liepāja” won the first round game in an intense fight with 83:82. For students, it was the toughest game this season.

Due to various health problems, Liepaja players have not managed to play any games in the planned line-up before the season. The best statistic so far has been for the center player Ilya Gromov (15.6 points and 8.9 rebounds).

The University of Latvia has also caused serious problems for almost all opponents, including Ventspils, in long episodes, but it has never managed to win.

In the second game of the day “Ventspils” at 5 pm in the Olympic Center “Ventspils” will host “Ogri”. The fight on the blue screens will be seen on the channel “Best4Sport TV”.

Ventspils residents with six victories in seven battles are second, but Ogre residents with three victories in six duels – third.

In the first round match in Ogre, the initiative was more often in the hands of Ventspils residents and at the beginning of the last quarter, the majority of guests reached 11 points. “Ogre” managed to play back, but at the end, Artūrs Ausis and Kristaps Mediss had a safer hand (76:83).

“Ventspils” has successfully passed the first injury test, winning the last two victories without the ankle-healing October player Māris Gulbs (29.4 points on average in the game).

“Ogres” team against Latvia’s leading team “VEF Rīga” and “Ventspils” this autumn balance is 0-3. The most stable value – Kaspars Bērziņš (on average 13.3 points and seven rebounds).

Finally, at 7 pm, Valmiera Glass / Vidzeme University College will compete with the VEF Riga team at the Vidzeme Olympic Center. The match will be shown on the league’s YouTube channel.

The people of Valmiera have won twice in six matches, which gives the fourth place, but the Rigans have lost in seven fights.

In the first round, both teams showed attacking potential and the Rigans won – 105: 90.

Valmiera returns after partial downtime, but the team was not affected by Covid-19. For the second season in a row, the match manager Edmunds Elksnis is the leader of the whole league in the assists (8.3), and also the third most successful (21.2).

On Tuesday, the VEF Rīga team won a beautiful FIBA ​​Champions League away game in Greece. The most effective LIBLs so far have been Aigars Šķēle (15.8 points and 4.5 passes) and Kails Olmens (15.6).

It has already been reported that in the main tournament, team matches will be played only within their countries. Initially, it was planned that from October 3 to December 5, 30 games will take place between Latvian teams, while seven Estonian teams will also play their mini-tournaments.

Given the rapid spread of Covid-19, it has been decided that the main event will be played in two separate groups – Estonia and Latvia – with a four-round tournament in each of them.

There are still discussions about how the playoffs will be played.

In the main tournament of the third season of LIBL, 13 teams were scheduled to play a two-round tournament, which would be followed by a playoff – the quarter-finals and the Final Four.

13 teams – six Latvian units – “VEF Rīga”, “Ogre”, “Ventspils”, “Valmiera Glass” / “Vidzeme University College”, “University of Latvia” and “Liepāja” participate in the LIBL championship in the 2020/21 season, as also seven Estonian teams – Tallinn Kalev / Cramo, Rapla Avis Utilitas, Parnu Sadam, University of Tartu, Rakvere Tarvas, Tallinn Kalev / TLU and TalTech.

In the first Latvian-Estonian joint league tournament in the 2018/2019 season, Ventspils won 15 teams in both the main tournament and the Final 4, but the 2019/2020 season remained unfinished, finishing first in the main tournament, which was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. occupying “VEF Rīga”, the second – “Ogrei”, the third – Tallinn Kalev / / Cramo and the fourth – “Ventspils”.

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