Sport
Violation after violation – fighting sports industry professionals say this about a fight between an 18-year-old and a 15-year-old, the video of which has been made public. The event did not comply with various safety rules as well. Police will look into this incident, Latvian Television reported on February 14.
Latvian luge competitor Kristers Aparjods won the sixth stage of the World Cup on Sunday, which took place in Oberhof, Germany, according to the official results of the organizers.
Due to delays in the planned state funding for sports federations, the industry is in an unprecedented crisis and at the beginning of the Olympic year is unable to ensure athletes' participation in important competitions, Latvian Olympic Committee (LOK) President Jānis Buks told Latvian Radio on Thursday, February 1.
The Latvian Olympic Committee (LOK) has not yet decided whether Latvian athletes will start at the Paris Olympics in the summer of 2024 if the participants include "neutral athletes" from the aggressor countries Russia and Belarus. There is no widespread support in Latvian society for either scenario according to the survey of residents conducted by Norstat Research Centre in cooperation with LSM.lv.
Latvia's national teams will be prohibited from playing against the national teams of Russia and Belarus, according to amendments to the Sports Law, which were supported in the Saeima on Thursday, December 21, in the second reading. The ban will also apply if athletes from these countries participate under so-called 'neutral status'.
The amendments to the law also provide that Latvia will not be allowed to organize team sports national team competitions involving the national teams of Russia or Belarus or their 'neutral' proxies. This will apply to both adult, youth and junior competitions.
The main goal of the amendments to the law is to re-emphasize Latvia's solidarity with Ukraine and to fundamentally block any Russian efforts to legitimize its war crimes through the sports industry.
"The basic idea of the amendments to the Sports Law is to establish at the level of national legislation that Latvian team sports teams, for example in basketball, football or hockey, cannot play mutual games with the teams of the aggressor countries - Russia and Belarus - either on their own or on a neutral field," said Dāvis Mārtiņš Daugavietis (New Unity), chair of the Education, Culture and Sports subcommittee of the Saeima.
The amendments to the law also provide that Latvia will not be allowed to organize team sports national team competitions involving the national teams of Russia or Belarus or their 'neutral' proxies. This will apply to both adult, youth and junior competitions.
The main goal of the amendments to the law is to re-emphasize Latvia's solidarity with Ukraine and to fundamentally block any Russian efforts to legitimize its war crimes through the sports industry.
"The basic idea of the amendments to the Sports Law is to establish at the level of national legislation that Latvian team sports teams, for example in basketball, football or hockey, cannot play mutual games with the teams of the aggressor countries - Russia and Belarus - either on their own or on a neutral field," said Dāvis Mārtiņš Daugavietis (New Unity), chair of the Education, Culture and Sports subcommittee of the Saeima.
Although a bid has not yet been officially released, Sweden sees Latvia as its potential partner in organizing the 2030 Winter Olympic Games, with Sigulda's luge, skeleton and bobsleigh track taking part, reports LTV's sports department.
On Tuesday, October 31, the Saeima Education, Culture and Science Committee supported amendments to the Sports Law in a first reading. It is planned to prohibit the organization of team sports, including at youth level, in which the national teams of the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus participate, whether under their national flags or a 'neutral' flag of convenience.