More than basketball: Ainars Bagatskis talks about Ukrainian NT ahead of EuroBasket / News - Basketnews.com

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It is the 173rd day since Russia's launched an invasion of Ukraine and there are lots of things to focus on for the Ukrainian people other than sports.

Ainars Bagatskis

Position:SG, SFAge:55Height:198 cmWeight:91 kgBirth place:Riga, LatviaProfileNewsStatistics

However, sports could also serve as a window for them to manifest their cause in the international sphere.

Last weekend, Ukraine national basketball team came to Istanbul for a friendly tournament to play three preparation games against Poland, Slovenia, and Turkey.

While they lost against the hosts (70-96) and Slovenia (82-86), they did not leave the Turkish capital without a win. The team crushed Poland, 88-60.

The Latvian head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Ainars Bagatskis, spoke to BasketNews about the latest situation regarding the team's mental state and the upcoming challenges.

"There are certainly many ongoing difficulties," he told BasketNews. "I don't wish any coach or any person in the world to be in this situation. Russia's offensive on a peaceful country like Ukraine influenced not just the Ukrainians, but everybody in the world."

"Regarding basketball, the war started when we were about to go into a game against Spain. There was no way to implement any tactics, no mental preparation whatsoever. Now the situation is a little bit better; all the players have contracts abroad, and everybody plays away from Ukraine."

Bagatskis also emphasized the help coming from all over the world for the Ukraine NT to keep them able to compete in the international tournaments.

"We got really big support from many countries and many federations. I would like to say big thanks to the Latvian Basketball Federation and the Latvian government for their support of Ukrainian basketball and the Ukrainian people," said the coach.

"Also, the Italian Basketball Federation helped us to organize the tournament, and thanks to the Turkish Basketball Federation, as we are here in Istanbul. We would like to have more support but thanks for everything so far."

While the Ukrainian roster is boosted by the arrivals of Alex Len (Sacramento Kings) and Svi Mykhailuk (Toronto Raptors), the Latvian coach clarified the team's latest situation and upcoming fixtures.

Len played against Slovenia (15 PTS, 6 REB) and Mykhailuk scored 12 points each against Poland and Turkey.

"Regarding our preparations, we are in a better situation now for the World Cup Qualifiers. However, we could not make a single practice with the entire team until they [NBA duo] arrived in Istanbul. We got four team practices and immediately played a game here.

But we enjoy playing every game because we play for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. While people are in the front, we play basketball. That is the only thing we can do for the cause," Bagatskis explained.

"We are going to turn back to Riga because it is our home place now. We relocated there and our home games are going to be played at Riga Arena. We are going to Finland to play another preparation game and then, there comes the first official game for the World Cup Qualifiers, the second-round match against Italy," added the 55-year-old specialist.

Bagatskis also reminded the previous EuroBasket 2017 where he was the head coach of the Latvian team.

"In 2017, when we were with the Latvian national team here in Istanbul, we were expected to be in the 17th or 18th place in the final rankings. But we finished the tournament in 5th place, losing to Slovenia -- the eventual winners -- in the quarter-finals.

Now, many people expect Ukraine to be finishing the tournament no higher than 19th place. For sure, we can show much better basketball quality than that. But I don't care about the final ranking. If we play quality basketball, if we play for each other and play for our country, we can do a bigger thing," Bagatskis pointed out.

For the FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers, Ukraine is set to play two games against Italy (August 24) in Riga and against Iceland in Hafnarfjorour (August 27).

Ukraine is located in Group C (Milan) for the upcoming EuroBasket 2022 alongside Greece, Croatia, Great Britain, Estonia, and the hosts, Italy.

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