Latvian teams poised to contest U22 qualifiers on home soil

Latvia’s U22 men’s and women’s national teams compete this week in Daugavpils for a spot in the final stage of this age-group European Championship scheduled for the summer of 2024. The men’s national team will have to meet their peers from Czechia, Ukraine, and Türkiye. The women, on the other hand, will only play Poland, after the withdrawal of the Israeli national team – which results in 3-0 wins for each of their opponents. 

The U22 men’s national team will compete in Daugavpils for a second time. In 2022, when such a tournament was held in Europe for the first time, the Latvians defeated the Faroe Islands at home, but lost to Serbia, thereby failing to qualify for the final stage of the championship. The U22 men’s Final Round will be held in the Netherlands in July 2024. In addition to the hosts, the winners of each of the five qualifiers will make it there, as well as the two best runners-up.

Edvins Viguls, Kārlis Uģis Ābelītis, Ralfs Kļaviņš, Leo Catlakšs, Jānis Teikmanis, Armands Rokjāns, Dāvis Storkis, Leo Aleksandrs Štolcs, Sandis Vilcāns, Eduards Stieģelis, Artems Petrovs, and Ernests Krakops will play in Daugavpils under the leadership of Mārčs Obrumans and Aivis Kokin.

The U22 women’s national team lost to the hosts and the Danish team in May 2022 in the Serbian city of Ub. The participation in the final tournament, which will take place in the summer of 2024, has already been secured by the hosts, Italy. The winners of all four groups, as well as the three best runners-up will progress to the final round. Since the women’s groups have a different number of teams, only the results of the matches contested with teams finishing 1-3 will be taken into account to determine which runners-up will qualify for the finals.

The selection led by Daniele Mario Capriotti, Arvil Keiš and Inguna Minusa includes Alise Juršane-Piņke, Katrīna Struka, Anželika Ivanova, Anastasija Andryushchenko, Ginta Leveika, Maggie Grundman, Kristiāna Muižaraja, Rēzija Mazure-Mago, Evelina Rutkovska, Anna Cepurīte, Anna Rīta, Eva Brokāne, Anete Čelnova, Junora Vagele, Laura Vāvere, Kristine Leskinoviča, and Vlada Pridatko.

The games will take place in the Daugavpils Olympic Centre, and admission will be free of charge.

Live streaming of Latvia’s matches is available on the official YouTube page of the Latvian Volleyball Federation.