Renārs Birkāns earns season-long deal at Pärnu after short-term start

Latvian point guard Renārs Birkāns will stay with Estonian club Pärnu Sadam until the end of the season. The 29-year-old started the season without a club, and the deal he signed on 17 October was initially meant to cover only Pärnu's FIBA Europe Cup games. Three weeks later the club decided it needed him for the whole season.

In the Europe Cup, Birkāns is averaging 8.7 points and 8.7 assists over three games. In the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League, Pärnu beat last season's finalists Valmiera Glass/ViA and Ventspils with him in the line-up, and he averaged 12.5 points and 11.5 assists in those games, Sportacentrs.com reported.

First club outside Latvia

Birkāns came through the Daugava sports centre and had previously played only for clubs in Latvia's top division: Jelgava, Latvijas Universitāte, Liepāja and Ventspils. Pärnu is his first club abroad.

Pärnu have another Latvian in the squad. Forward Klāvs Dubults is the team's top scorer in the Europe Cup with 15.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, and averages 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in the league.

Pärnu's next league game is against Tartu University on Sunday 15 November at 17:00.

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