Timma is going to play in a 3x3 basketball tournament organized by a Russian gambling company, the organizers announced on Sunday on their Instagram account. On his Instagram account, Timma confirmed that he would participate in the tournament organized by bookmaker "Liga Stavok".
Likewise, the basketball player himself has published information on his profile that he is currently in Russia. "It's something interesting to me," said Timma. "[I] Thought why not give it a try?"
The current advice of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that Latvian citizens do not visit aggressor states Russia and Belarus at all.
As well as a likely massive public backlash, Timma can also say goodbye to any hopes of representing official Latvian national teams as a result of his decision. Following amendments to the Latvian Sports Law which were made following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 "athletes and sports workers are prohibited from participating in sports competitions taking place in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. Athletes and sports workers who do not comply with the prohibition... may not be included in the national team, as well as sports training and they may not receive state or local government budget funds to cover competition expenses."
Timma, who played his first match for the national team in 2014, has played 35 official matches for the Latvian national team, scoring 338 points.
The last time Timma played for the Latvian national team was in the qualification tournament of the Paris Olympic Games at the beginning of July in Riga, though the Latvian national team did not qualify for the Paris Games finals.
As well as being a pro basketball player, he is listed as part of U.S. registered fitness and supplements company FitSpace.
