three WTA titles. In the Fed Cup, the Latvian team reached World Group II status in 2018, defeating Russia en route. Association football Association football was the most popular sport in Latvia during the first period of independence (1918–1940). The Latvian national team participated in the final stage of the 2004 European Football Championship. The leading scorer for the Latvian national football team is Māris Verpakovskis. A sports marketing study conducted by international company Mediacom has concluded that football is Latvia’s most popular sport – a title it has now held for three consecutive years. The annual study takes into consideration 65 sports activities in Latvia, calculating their popularity by taking into account the amount of active and passive participants in each sport at both a social and competitive level, as well as tracking the amount of coverage each sport receives in the media and attendance at events. Cycling Also Latvian cyclists are famous in the world arena, lately in BMX. First time in Europe cycling history one country Latvian BMX Elite Riders (Artūrs Matisons, Ivo Lakučs, Māris Štrombergs Artis Zentiņš) triumphed on European Championships 2006. Māris Štrombergs was the 2008 and 2010 UCI BMX World champion and a double gold medalist at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and London 2012. Latvian rider Romāns Vainšteins won the elite men's road race at the 2000 UCI Road World Championships. Motorsport Rally is considered to be the second most popular sport in Latvia. The Rally Liepāja–Ventspils is a round of the European Rally Championship since 2013. The Speedway Grand Prix of Latvia is a round of the Speedway Grand Prix since 2006. In rallycross Reinis Nitišs was European Rallycross Champion in the Super 1600 class in 2013 and went on to become the youngest winner of a round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship when he took the 2014 World RX of Norway at the age of 18. Nitišs would later become the first driver from the Baltic states to become European Champion in the highest division of rallycross. Subsequently, Jānis Baumanis has followed in his footsteps by winning the European Super 1600 championship in 2015 and also races in the top-flight. Latvia has also had two open-wheel drivers - Haralds Šlēgelmilhs who competed in Formula Two in 2012, and Karlīne Štāla who competed in German Formula Three in 2008. Other sports Many other sports and recreational activities are also popular in