The final is here – “VEF Rīga” and “Rīgas Zeļļi” will start the battle for the title of Latvian champions

The match of “VEF Riga” on the “Rimi” field in the Olympic Center will start at 7:45 p.m., it will be broadcast live on the LTV7 channel.

The series will last until four wins by one team. The second match will take place on May 13 at the Daugava Sports Hall, after which the teams will return to OSC on May 16, and a duel between the two teams is planned for May 19 in Arena Riga.

The last time the two Riga teams fought for the title was in 2010, when “Barons” beat “VEF Rīga” 4-3.

This will be the 14th final in a row for the “VEF Riga” team. Until now, the team of “Ventspils” has been the opponent 11 times (balance 9-2), but other opponents have had to give up in seven-game series so far (in 2010 – “Barons”, in 2016 – “Valmiera”/ORDO).

“Rīgas Zellļi” reached the final in their first season. Previously, Artūrs Strēlniekas had the experience of six final series in other teams, Mārtiņš Meier had five, both of whom have two and one titles, respectively.

This season, in the main tournament of the Latvian-Estonian league, the teams won one victory each in mutual matches (“Zeļļi” on December 27 with 93:86, “VEF Rīga” on February 14 with 98:77), but in the quarter-finals “VEF Rīga” won both matches – 87: 72 and 94:87. Also, “VEF Rīga” won the final game of the Latvian basketball “Užava” Cup (94:69).

“VEF Rīga” was free from the quarter-finals, but beat “Liepāja” 3-0 in the semi-final series. On the other hand, “Rīgas Zeļļi” first beat the team of “Valmiera Glass”/”Vidzemes Augstskola” with 3-1 and then defeated “Ventspili” with the same result.

The bronze series between the two Kurzeme teams will start on May 11.

Last year, the basketball players of “VEF Rīga” became the champions, beating “Ventspili” 4-1 in the final, while “Liepāja” won 3-1 over “Ogri” in the fight for bronze.