Other events in Baltic States

The national men's basketball team of Latvia played with poise and balance and the cold-shooting Czech Republic was unable to surmount the second half lead, which was at plus-minus 10 most of the way. The final score in "Arena Riga" was 65:72, informs LETA.

Coupled with Lithuania's two-point loss to Belgium earlier on Monday, Latvia's chances of qualifying for further contention are looking quite good. At the moment, Lithuania, Belgium, Latvia and the Czech Republic have five points each in Group D. Estonia is in fifth place with four points, and Ukraine is in last place with three points.

Janis Blums scored 14 points for Latvia yesterday, while Janis Strelnieks and Kaspars Berzins had 11 points each.

Tomas Satoransky was the highest scorer for the Czech Republic with 22 points and nine assists, and Jan Vesely added 17 points and 11 rebounds.

As reported, Latvia opened the "EuroBasket 2015" preliminary round on Saturday by defeating Belgium 78:67, but lost the second match to Lithuania on Monday 49:68. The Czechs have two wins under their belt – 80:57 against Estonia and 78:64 against Ukraine.

In the final Group D match on Monday, Estonia beat Ukraine 78:71.

No games in Group D will be played today, whereas tomorrow Latvia will play Ukraine, and close the preliminary round with a match against Estonia on Thursday.

The top four teams in each of the four groups will advance to the tournament's final 16, which will be played out in France from September 12 to 20.

The EuroBasket tournament will also serve as a qualification tournament for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The top two teams will earn automatic qualification for the Olympics, while teams placed 3rd through 7th will qualify for a special qualification tournament.

The last and only time Latvia has organized the European Men's Basketball Championships was in 1937, when it finished in 6th place.