On Friday, July 2, the Chief of the State Border Guard General Guntis Pujāts and the Deputy Chief of the State Border Guard (Chief of the Central Board) Colonel Juris Martukāns met with the Sports Instructor of the Ministry of the Interior Ainars Cīrulis and two State Border Guard professional athletes Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Edgars Točs who will represent Latvia in beach volleyball at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
During the meeting, the border guards explained how they had performed this season, as well as thanked the State Border Guard management for the support provided in the preparation process the Olympics, while the State Border Guard management expressed pride and appreciation for the border guards' achievements in sport and wished them success.
Mārtiņš Pļaviņš, a specialist at the Vocational and Tactical Training Center of the State Border Guard College, and Edgars Točs from the State Border Guard Service, as part of the Baltic RTV / Border Guard volleyball team led by coaches Raimonds Vilde and Ainars Cīrulis, has participated in and won award-winning places in competitions such as the Latvian Championship, the Baltic League as well as the Latvian Cup.
This will be the third time Mārtiņš Pļaviņš will represent Latvia in the Olympics. The border guard has already participated in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where he won the 9th place together with Alexander Samoilov, as well as in the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where together with Jānis Šmediņš he won a bronze medal. It should be noted that Mārtiņš Pļaviņš was also the flagship of the Latvian delegation at the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games.
Both border guards have also participated in the World and European championships.
The honor to represent Latvia at the Tokyo Summer Olympics will belong also to another border guard - Eugene Borodavko in the judo discipline (weight category up to 100 kg. Currently, the athlete is abroad and preparing for the Olympic Games.
Yevgeny Borodavko has represented Latvia at the 2008 Beijing and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, winning 17th place, while at the 2012 London Olympics, he achieved his highest result so far at the Olympics - winning 9th place. The athlete has also participated in the World and European championships.
The Tokyo Summer Olympics will run from July 23 to August 8. Let's keep our thumbs up for our own!
We wish our Olympians success and victory!