Latvia beats Lebanon on first day of Basketball World Cup

Latvia – competing at the prestigious tournament for the first time ever – won against Lebanon Friday at 109:70.

Unfortunately, LTV and LSM will not be providing live coverage of the matches, which will be shown on the TV3 channel within Latvia. However, you will be able to keep abreast of scores and behind the scenes tournament news at the LSM Latvian-language dedicated Basketball World Cup section.

The Philippines, Japan and Indonesia are the hosts from August 25 to September 10 when the final will be played in Manila. In all, 32 national teams are participating. The Latvian national team will play their group games in Jakarta, Indonesia.

According to the ranking of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the current title holders Spain are the main favorites in the tournament, but the chances of their closest competitors USA basketball players are at least as high. Latvia ranks 29th in the ranking table.

The tournament format is rather complicated, but you can see how it works here. It starts off with 32 teams divided into eight groups of four, with the first target to be one of the top two in the group.

The Latvian national team will play its first match in Group H on August 25 against Lebanon. In the continuation of the group stage, the Latvians have to play consecutively against France on August 27 and Canada on August 29.

The second round of group games will be held on September 1 and 3, if Latvia is among the two strongest teams in Group H. If Latvia takes 3rd or 4th place in Group F, the next matches will be on August 31 and September 2.