Vecvagars to coach Latvia in World Cup Qualifiers

RIGA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Latvia have named Arnis Vecvagars as their new coach ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers.

The 43-year-old was an assistant to coach Ainars Bagatskis at FIBA EuroBasket 2017 in Istanbul, where Latvia reached the Quarter-Finals before falling in a thriller to eventual champions Slovenia.

Vecvagars says he will not veer from the approach of Bagatskis, who held the Latvia reins at the FIBA EuroBaskets in 2011, 2013, 2015, at the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade and this summer.

"It's a great honor to succeed Ainars Bagatskis, under whose leadership the country achieved its best result since independence with a 5th place at the EuroBasket," Vecvagars said.

"The team must maintain a positive atmosphere, provide good conditions for professional work and strive to maximize the skill of the best players. The style of the Latvian team's game was highly appreciated by supporters and specialists, and there will be no revolution in this regard."

Latvia won the first-ever FIBA EuroBasket back in 1935 and finished second at the event four years later. The country's players were then members of Soviet Union teams before Latvia starting playing again as an independent country in 1992.

The Latvians did not reach the podium at the FIBA EuroBasket in the modern era yet they were not far off from doing so. With a talented squad that included Kristaps Porzingis, Jannis Timma, Janis Strelnieks, Janis Blums and the Bertans brothers, Dairis and Davis, Latvia played exciting, end-to-end basketball.

Porzingis had a terrific first summer with the senior national team and shone even in a Quarter-Final defeat to eventual champions Slovenia.

In the World Cup Qualifiers, Latvia will take on Turkey, Sweden and Ukraine. In the first window, Latvia will play in Ankara against Turkey on November 23 and then three days later host Sweden.

Though he doesn't know what the exact makeup of his squad will be, Vecvagars said: "I am convinced that we are in a position to win the right to play in the World Cup."

Vecvagars is well connected to many of the young players that are breaking into the senior team, or on the verge of doing so. He was the coach of the Latvia U18 side in 2014 and for the past three years, he held the reins to the Latvia U20s.

As a player, Vecvagars represented Latvia at the FIBA EuroBaskets in 2001 in Turkey and 2003 in Sweden.

Vecvagars' son, 24-year-old Kaspars, was a point guard on the Latvia team that finished eighth at FIBA EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA