Other events in Baltic States

An American basketball player with Latvian roots, Andrew Smith, was granted a Latvian passport in May, and may even be included on the candidate list of the Latvian national men's basketball team, LETA found out.

The Florida-born 22-year-old currently plays for the Liberty College ''Flames'' in the NCAA Division I.

This past season, Smith averaged 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds for the ''Flames''.

As Latvian Basketball Association spokesman Arturs Portnovs said, the association has been in communication with the player and his agent, and the head coach of the Latvian national men's basketball team Ainars Bagatskis has also been informed about this player.

''Bagatskis has been given all the necessary information about this player,'' said Portnovs, pointing out that it will be up to the coach whether Smith will be invited to join the national team's training camp.

As reported, Latvia is in Group D in the preliminary round at this year's European Men's Basketball Championships together with Lithuania, Ukraine, Belgium, Estonia and the Czech Republic.

Latvia, who is hosting the group stage, will open the tournament on September 5 against Belgium.

The top four team in each of the four groups will advance to the tournament's final 16, which will be played out in France from September 12 to 20.