In the match with Lithuania – special attention is paid to the legend of Latvian basketball
With 170 matches played, 1,231 points earned and 10 years of captain’s bond, Latvia’s longtime sniper Janis Blūma boasts such impressive achievements.
The Latvian arena will be thanked to the Latvian, who commemorated it 40 years ago a few months ago, on Wednesday evening.
The 190 cm tall defender made his national team debut 20 years ago, back in 2002. on June 1, when the Latvian players control match against Italy. True, then only 20-year-old J.Blum thought more about basketball.
“The team was still strong dedovščina, the young players had to please the older players. On the day of the match with Armandas Škėle, we went to Armandas Kraulinis’ order to buy and accept them into the team, ”recalls a Latvian who recently spoke to the Latvian website sportocentrs.com.
However, Blūmas soon became an integral part of the team and played in seven European championships with the Latvian national team.
He gave the most exemplary performance in Lithuania in 2011, when in a confrontation with the future French vice-champions of the tournament, the Latvian set a career record with 32 points. Our neighbors lost that match in Šiauliai 78:89.
In general, J.Blūmas played in that championship – in five matches he collected 16 equals in Lithuania and was the most productive Latvian player. True, it did not bring victories – they lost the Latvian tournament five times after the first stage.
J.Blūmas did not manage to finish the highest score in the career team, because the Latvians did not break even in 2019. world than this year’s European Championships. So J.Blūmas had to play the final match for the national team in the selection windows.
Nevertheless, Latvian basketball will remember the long-standing sniper of the national team for a long time.
“Janis is a hard working man, he never retreats,” 15min In a detailed interview with a former team-mate, former Latvian national team player Robert Štelmaher said. – I really appreciate what he has done for Latvian basketball. I hope he finds another position in Latvian basketball that can help us reach heights next door. Congratulations to him. “
It is an interesting fact that J.Blūmas and R.Štelmaher played at the same time in the “Vilnius Morning” of Vilnius at that time – it happened in 2006-2007. in the season, which ended with defeats in the ULEB Cup and LKL finals, but won the Baltic League Cup.
J.Blūmas had returned to Vilnius once again, when he defended the colors of “Lietuvos rytas” in 2012–2013. season.
In general, during his long career J.Blūmas represented as many as 13 clubs. In the Euroleague, he competed with three – “Lietuvos rytas” in his second stage in Vilnius, Bilbao “Basket” in 2011-2012. season and Athens Panathinaikos 2014-2015. campaign.
J.Blum officially ended his career last summer. The last club of his career was the Italian team of Emilia Reggio Pallacanestro.
From 2021 September Latvian is the Chairman of the Board of the Riga VEF Club.
Lithuanian and Latvian national team matches in Riga arena at 7 p.m.