Biggest EuroBasket Success
The most important victories in Latvian women’s basketball came when the country was part of the Soviet Union. From 1960 to 1983, TTT Riga won the European Champions Cup 18 times! Many Latvians also won European Championships with the Soviet Union squad.  After independence in the early nineties, a new generation of Latvian women’s basketball players made their first steps at international level without much success. The Latvian women’s National Team qualified for EuroBasket Women for the first time in 1999 when they finished in ninth place. Six years later, in Turkey, the performance was more impressive. Latvia won four times against teams like Poland, Germany, Greece and Turkey and finished in sixth place. Unfortunately, that was just one place away from getting a birth for the 2006 World Championship in Brazil.

		Anete Jekabsone led Latvia in the qualifying round with nearly 20 points per game.

Biggest EuroBasket disaster
Taking into account Latvia’s rich basketball traditions, four disasters in qualifying rounds gave basketball fans headaches. The most painful came in 1997, when the Latvia couldn’t get past the preliminary round and fell to a hideous 28th place in the European rating.

Best Individual Performance/Best Player of All-Time
Latvian women’s basketball has traditionally produced strong players at the center position.  The most famous was the phenomenal Uljana Semjonova who was listed at 2.10 m, but was probably closer to 2.20 m. From 1969 to 1985, playing with the Soviet Union, she won the European Championship ten times and was one of the most dominant players on the court.

Scouting report
There is no doubt that Ainars Zvirgzdins will make some serious changes to the Latvian team’s tactical style.  He has good enough material to work with for various experiments on both offense and defense.  Anete Jekabsone and Gunta Basko can be very dangerous behind the arch and in the transition game. Power forward Ieva Kublina can shoot three-pointers and in the paint Liene Jansone and Zane Tamane will be very dangerous. The Latvians may also receive some help from youngsters like perimeter shooter Elina Zike and Santa Dreimane. Coach Zvirgzdins is known for his team defense and, of course, this aspect of the game will be very important for Latvia.

Prediction
After the sixth place finish at EuroBasket Women 2005, ambitions and expectations grew. The Latvians will go to Italy with great motivation to climb at least one step in the final standings which would give them the possibility of playing in next year's qualification tournament for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Unfortunately, the tournament draw was not kind to Latvia and the road to that fifth place finish will run through defending European Champions the Czech Republic, Turkey and the additional qualifier. Therefore, from day one, the Latvians must be ready to perform. If they are successful in the first round, then they might find some weaker competition in the next stage.  The quarterfinals are a real possibility which will give them a shot at their stated goal of Olympic qualification.

Likely Squad
New head coach Ainars Zvirgzdins wants to bring back some experienced players who didn’t play in the National Team during the past seasons for different reasons. However, big changes in the roster might not be the best idea as many of those players performed well at EuroBasket Women 2005. There are nine players who seem to have have secured a spot in the roster: guards Anete Jekabsone, Zane Eglite, and Santa Dreimane, forwards Gunta Basko, Ieva Tare and Elina Zike, centers Ieva Kublina, Liena Jansone and Zane Tamane. Some of young talents will be sprinkled in, including 17 year-old point guard Elina Babkina.

Last 10 events
Year Event Place Achievement
2006 World Championship Sao Paolo Did not qualify
2005 EuroBasket Ankara 6th
2004 Olympics Athens Did not qualify
2003 EuroBasket Patras Did not qualify
2002 World Championship Nanjing Did not qualify
2001 EuroBasket Le Mans Did not qualify
2000 Olympics Sydney Did not qualify
1999 EuroBasket Katowice 9th
1998 World Championship Berlin Did not qualify
1997 EuroBasket Budapest Did not qualify

How did they qualify
Qualifying round
1st in Group E (3 W — 1 L)
Results
Sept-6th 2006 *Slovakia b. Latvia 73:72
Sept-9th 2006 *Latvia b. Belgium 71:67
Sept-16th 2006 *Latvia b. Slovakia 71:63
Sept-20th 2006 Latvia b. *Belgium 70:63
* Home team