2024-07-31 07:45:40
“Both teams were visibly excited. Maybe we handled it a bit better – they made quite a few unforced errors, dribbling into the box, giving us the ball. We had fewer mistakes like that, but we didn’t play very convincingly either. The first puppies have been drowned, the first stress has been overcome, we have to prepare for the next game,” in a conversation with Sports newspaper said Kārlis Pauls Lasmanis. “Now we know what it will be like here, what the atmosphere is like, which way the wind is blowing.”
Lasmanis says that this was his first serious game in a long time, which caused additional excitement. “In the beginning, I was really nervous because I hadn’t played for a while due to an injury. Yes, there was a qualification for the European Championship, but it doesn’t really count, I played part-time, this is a return tournament. It was as if we did everything in training and I was ready, but the excitement was still higher than usual.”
In recent years, Lithuania has progressed very rapidly and has broken into the 3×3 basketball elite. “It’s never easy for us against Lithuania, so I’m very happy that we managed to play like this in the first game, with one strong opponent behind us,” said the player.
Players of the Lithuanian 3×3 national team deleted social networking apps from their phones before the start of the Olympic tournament, while Lasmanis is the most active member of the Latvian Olympic team, in the short stories section of Instagram, entertaining followers and showing them what is not available on a daily basis. “I use social networks in my spare time for hee-hee, ha-ha purposes, it’s cool to film, people like it – I entertain them and show them how the Olympic Games look from the other side. I wasn’t on social networks much today. One day is enough for me to get in the mood, not a week.”
During the game, the thermometer showed 35 degrees Celsius, and the temperature on the field was probably even higher. “It’s cool to sweat,” said Lasmanis with a smile. “However, these are still flowers, it has been necessary to play three games a day in such heat. Then there is snot and tears, it seems that the legs will rise to the sun.”
The Latvian national team will have 24 hours until the next match – on Wednesday at A duel with the Netherlands is expected at 19.35. “A strong and experienced opponent. Well known players, it’s going to be a tough game, you have to tune in like a final game again because every game here is like a final game. Then everything should be fine. We must be ready,” Lasmanis told Sporta Avīze about the next opponent. In the main tournament, all eight 3×3 teams will play one-on-one, with two immediately reaching the semi-finals, and four more competing in the “play-in” round.
“Very hot, thanks to Oskars Urbanovič, the entire composition of the Latvian Olympic team, who cooled us down as much as possible with ice vests and ice towels, preparing us for the fight. It was terribly hot on the field and it seems that we were more physically prepared than the Lithuanians. It appeared in the decisions and the play we made, joy for the guys,” said another national team player, Sigmars Raimo, about the weather.
Meanwhile, Nauris Miezis was not satisfied with his performance, who left the field with a pinched side after only ten seconds of play, but soon successfully returned to it. “It looked like they were going to play a different hand, so I disengaged. That was the only thing they surprised me with – an unexpected block from the side and I deservedly got a kick in the ribs because I was a bit relaxed,” concluded Miezis, saying that they did not surprise the competitors with anything else.
“Thanks to coach Raimonds Feldman, who had done a great study of the opponents and it really worked today, even though I made a terrible mistake, I hope I don’t get kicked by the coach. We can definitely improve the game. I think the two Olympic debutants of our team were definitely worried, but maybe it was also beneficial, because we started energetically – the nervousness burst out.”
2024-07-31 07:45:40