Other events in Baltic States

Latvian basketball player Andris Biedrins, who plays for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) "Golden State Warriors" team, is to undergo an operation to repair a ruptured stomach muscle, writes LETA. With this, the Latvian player's NBA season is probably over, and he will have set a new NBA anti-record for free-throw accuracy.

The decision to carry out the operation was taken after a consultation on Monday with a specialist in Philadelphia. The operation was to take place already today, Tuesday, but forecasts of the recovery period will only be made after the operation.

As reported, at the end of last year Biedrins missed 24 "Warriors" games due to a back injury, and at the beginning of this month was harshly criticized by "Warriors" head coach Don Nelson.

Biedrins has only played in 33 games this season, and has averaged 5.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

The Latvian player is 4-for-25 from the free-throw line this season, which makes up just 16%. The current NBA anti-record for a player shooting at least 20 free throws is held by Garfield Smith of the Boston ''Celtics'' in the 1971-72 season, who shot 6-for-31 from the line, and averaged 19.4%.

The "Warriors" are currently in 14th place in the NBA's Western Conference with 17 wins in 62 games, and have lost any chance of being included in the play-offs.

The last regular season game for the "Warriors" will take place on April 14.