The Denver Nuggets failed to match the Raptor's offer to Linas Kleiza, and the free-agent is now officially a part of the Toronto Raptor roster.

Bill Duffy, Kleiza's agent, said that Denver had earlier indicated that they would not be matching the Raptor's offer which would have obliged Kleiza to return to Denver if he wanted to continue his NBA career.

Kleiza's is now waiting to join the Lithuanian national team in preparation for the World Championship in Turkey which start next month.

Contractual uncertainties and NBA restrictions have prevented him from joining the boys in Druskininkai, where the Lithuanian men's team began their first training camp under new coach Kestutis Kemzūra.

Kleiza had been an ardent supporter and participant in the Lithuanian Men's National basketball team, and at the tender age of 25 the 203 cm forward is now one of the veterans of the squad and a team leader.

Kleiza hopes that this year's World Championships will be the first step on the way to winning the European Basketball Championships which will be held in Lithuania next year.

Meanwhile Žydrunas Ilgauskas has followed Lebron James to Miami in the hope of getting himself an NBA title and signed on to join James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the league's highest profile line-up.

Aco Petrovic has been appointed the new coach in Kaunas. The Serbian coach has been at the helm of FMP Belgrade, Hemofarm Vrsac, Lokomotiv Rostov and Unics Kazan and is looking forward to his move to Lithuania after inspecting the Žalgiris facilities recently and meeting with owner Vladimir Romanov and management.

“My basketball ideology is super-defence and decent offense. These are the keys to victory. I believe in the young players and value their enthusiasm and ambitions. Any foreigner has to be a better player than a local,” Aco told lithuaniabasketball.com

The team is also coming together after Tadas Klimavičius was officially inked for next season, and bigman Omar Samhan signed a two plus one contract recently.

As expected, Travis Watson will be wearing green again next year, as will Mirza Begic and Mario Delas who are waiting to see if Čukinas will sign to complete the Žalgiris front line.

After a dissapointing tournament, Lithuania will play Italy for ninth place in the European Under 20 Basketball Championships.

Expected to feature amongst the leaders, Lithuania's title hopes were lost after a surprise loss to Latvia, and with many teams on equal points, it was poor percentage that ensured the team didn't make it to the final eight.

Lithuania took victory in the Davis Cup tie against Ireland after winning the doubles in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

Ričardas Bernankis and Laurynas Grigelis were late replacements in the doubles after the team captain decided to try to win the tie in three games, and the gamble paid off as they overcame J. Cluskey and B. King.

In the dead rubbers the next day Ireland won both matches as Niland defeated Lukas Mugevicius and McGee overcame Dovydas Sakinis.

Lithuania will next meet Slovenia in a home draw on 17 September for the chance to move up to Group I in the Europe/Africa Zone.

In a cruel ending to their world championship campaign, the Lithuanian Under 17s lost the bronze medal play-off against Canada 83 - 81.

Lithuania led for much of the match and a good start gave them an 11 point lead in the first quarter, but the Canadians managed to limit the damage and the scores at half time saw Lithuania leading 43 - 40.

With about a minute left in the game Lithuania were leading 81 - 77 when Olivier Hanlan of Canada hit a three pointer and soon after was fouled and made two from the line.

Mantas Mockevičius, who top scored for Lithuania with 16 points, had four seconds to try and even the score, but the shot was wide and Canada went home with the bronze.

It's a cliche, but it was still a great effort from the boys and fourth in the world is no disgrace.

Lithuania's under 17 men's team fell short of making the gold medal game in FIBA U17 World Championships being held in Hamburg.

Lithuania was leading in the first quarter and even at half time. The Polish team pulled away in the third quarter before Lithuania made a late run on the unbeaten Poles in the last, and with just over a minute to play Lithuania got to within two points at 67 - 65.

Poland then put on an eight point spurt to finish the game and go onto a 75 - 65 victory.

On Sunday Lithuania will play Canada for the bronze, while Poland will meet the USA in the play-off for gold.

Artūras Jomantas joins the Lavrinovičius twins Darjušas and Kšyštofas as the latest scratchings from the Lithuanian National Team to compete in Turkey for the World Championships later this year.

Injury has forced the twins out, while after a season heavily disrupted by injury, it was decided Jomantas would be better off getting himself completely fit for next season.

To make up for the loss of height of the twins, Martynas Andriuškevičius has been called up from the reserve squad which recently defeated the English National Team in a two game series. The reserve squad is headed for China where they will continue their preparation, and Kemzūra has not ruled out the possibility of transferring more players to the main training camp.

The growing list of no-shows for the World Championships is a worry for new coach Kemzūra who will already be missing Marijonas Petravičius, Rimantas Kaukenas and Šarunas Jasikevičius, on top of the retirement from national duties of Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Darius Songaila and Žydrunas Ilgauskas as well as the full retirement of Arvydas Macijauskas.

The first training session for the squad of 16 will take place on 15 July in Druskininkai. Attending will be: Giedrius Gustas, Mantas Kalnietis, Martynas Gecevičius, Tomas Delininkaitis, Martynas Pocius, Mindaugas Lukauskis, Renaldas Seibutis, Simas Jasaitis, Jonas Mačiulis, Linas Kleiza, Paulius Jankūnas, Mindaugas Katelynas, Tadas Klimavičius, Donatas Motiejūnas, Martynas Andriuškevičius and Robertas Javtokas.

Many experts are lamenting the lower quality teams in this year's championships, as many of the top international names like Gasol, Nowitzki, Bogut and Ming will be missing, as well as pretty much the complete line-up of the Team USA which won gold at the Beijing Olympics.

But with Lithuania in a rebuidling phase and out to infuse some young blood into the team it should prove the perfect opportunity to start moulding the new look national team.

This should prove a good run for Lithuania who are keen to make an impression next year when they host the European Championships, and hope to get to the finals and ensure qualification for the London Olympics in 2012.

The Lithuanian Under 17 team team last night defeated Germany 73 - 61, and booked a spot in the semi finals where they will meet Poland for a chance to play for gold.

Lithuania finsihed second in its group with four wins and one loss behind the undefeated USA. In Group B Poland also finished without a loss and easily overcame Serbia 100 - 70 in their quarter final encounter.

* Lithuania played the USA in a warm-up tournament in Kaunas before the World Championships

Lithuania and Poland will play in the last game of the day, while in the other semi Canada will play the USA.

It has been a tough week for all the boys with only two rest days in the ten day championship, and Lithuania was able to draw on its fitness and character in its last two encounters against the home team Germany, and Serbia.

Lithuania U17 Assistant Coach Egidijus Zenevicius told FIBA that the youth basketball set-up in Lithuania is probably one of the best in Europe.

"Young basketball players begin competitive games from the age of nine, so they have years of competition and games behind them when they begin their careers. Then the National Federation begins working with youngsters at the age of 13-14 years.

"I expect to see one, two, maybe three players from this U17 team able to compete at world level for the senior team," Zenevicius said.

The semi finals will be held on Saturday night, and the final on Sunday will conclude the gruelling FIBA U17 World Championships.

Lithuania has taken a commanding 2 - 0 lead in the Davis Cup tie against Ireland. Ričardas Berankis was the favourite in the first game against Ireland's 508 ranked James McGee, but the Irishman managed to take a set off Berankis before succumbing in four sets.

The Irish number one Conor Niland was expected to even the score against Laurynas Grigelis, but the 18 year old Lithuanian again showed the fight and determination that the English well remember from their defeat in Vilnius.

Ranked 267 places behind Niland, Grigelis won in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 before a stunned Irish crowd and a frustrated Niland who earned himself a code violation for smashing his racket in the third set.

Lithuania now only need to win one of the remaining three rubbers to earn the chance to play for a spot in the second tier of Davis Cup competition.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Linas Kleiza has signed a four year $20 million deal with the Toronto franchise. As a Denver Nuggest restricted free-agent the Nuggets have seven days to better the offer, but this is seen as unlikely.

The 25 year old Kleiza seems more suited to the more European-styled Raptors and will join Hidayetą Turkoglu, Jose Calderone, Andrea Bargnani ir Marco Belinelli, though basketnews.lt reports that Turkoglu, who plays the same position as Kleiza, is likely to be traded before the start of next season.

Lietuvos Rytas, ranked in the third tier of seeds in this year's Euroleague, have been drawn in Group C for the upcoming season.

There will be four groups of six in Euroleague, and Lietuvos Rytas will share Group C with Barcelona, Montepaschi Siena, Fenerbahce Istanbul, Cibona Zagreb and Cholet Basket.

Žalgiris, ranked in the fifth tier of Euroleague seeds, has drawn Group A and will go up against Caja Laboral Vitoria, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Partizan  Belgrade, Asseco Prokom Gdynia and a team from the qualifying round.

After the first round of group games the top two teams from each groupl will advance to the Final 16 where they play another round robin of four groups of four teams. Then the top two teams from each group play off against each other in elimination finals for the chance to reach the Final Four in Paris, and the Euroleague Championship game which will be played on 8 May 2011.

The draw for Friday's Davic Cup draw was made today and the first match will feature Ireland's number two, James McGee, against Lithuania's top player Ričardas Berankis. The next match will pit Ireland's number one, Conor Niland, against Lithuanian number two Laurynas Grigelis.

In the doubles J.Cluskey and B.King or Ireland will play the Lithuanian pairing of V. L. Grigelis and D. Sakinis, before the reverse singles complete the five match fixture.

Lithuania is currently ranked 57 of 134 nations in the Davis Cup rankings and Ireland 54.

The winner of this tie will go on to meet the winner of Bulgaria and Slovenia for the right to move into from Group II to Group I in the Davis Cup, the next step before reaching the highest World Group ranking.

Rimas Kurtinaitis has made his decision for next year, and will take the helm at VEF Riga.

Kurtinaitis was hoping to head a Euroleague campaign, but the offers were not forthcoming, and after even considering the post at Žalgiris, he is headed north to Riga and will probably sign a contract in a couple of days.

lithuaniabasketball.com reports that VEF Riga started negotiations as soon as it appeared he would no longer return to Vilnius and VEF Riga Vice-President Valdis Valters said the team was very lucky to have Kurtinaitis guiding them through the Eurocup qualifiers, the VTB United League, BBL and the local competition.

Lithuania is to play Scotland in the first round of the Euro 2012 qualifier. Drawn in Group I along with Spain, Czech Republic, Liechtenstein and Scotland, the Lithuanians will host the first game against the Celts at the S. Darius and S. Girėnas stadium in Kaunas.

Lithuania will then hit the road to the Czech Republic on 7 September 2010, and then over to Spain for their draw on 8 October 2010 which will be their last game in the series for the year.

Lithuania's brightest young tennis prospect Ričardas Berankis came through the qualifiers to earn himself a spot in the main draw of Wimbledon.

Berankis is the first Lithuanian to make it into the second round of Wimbledon since Gerulaitis, who had Lithuanian heritage, made his name in the tennis world in the 1970s, before finally retiring in 1986.

Ričardas Berankis won his first round match against Australian Carsten Ball in four sets. Ball was ranked 135th in the world, 20 places about Berankis at 155.

In the second round Berankis came up against Feliciano Lopez the 22 seed from Spain who is ranked 30th in the world. Again Berankis played well, and took a set off the player ranked over 100 places ahead of him, but the four setter went the way of the Spaniard and Berankis' Wimbledon campaign came to an end after the 7-5. 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss.

Kurtinaitis Cut Loose

It’s official, Rimas Kurtinaitis will be looking for a new job next season.

Lietuvos Rytas has signed Croatian Drazen Anzulovic to take the reigns of the Vilnius club, and the new coach was in Vilnius for a few days recently to meet some of the players and advise them on their training regime. 

Kurtinaitis and Vainauskas are said to have held talks and Kurtinaitis stated on the TV program Panorama that the club basically needed a coach with a lower salary.  Both parties are said to have parted amicably and appreciate each other’s position as well as their work together over the preceding year and a half. 

Kurtinaitis presided over one of the more successful eras of Lietuvos Rytas, but management was concerned about the fall in form from February, and the hardship in overcoming Žalgiris who were playing without a coach for most of the LKL final series.

The need for change was probably the over-riding factor as both camps hope to reinvigorate their efforts next season. Robert Stelmahers has been appointed assistant coach and Arvydas Gronskis retains his position as second assistant coach.

On the player front Aron Baynes, Stepas Babrauskas, Donatas Zavackas, Vidas Ginevičius and Justas Sinica have left the team. Again money is the central issue and Rytas would probably like to retain some of their services, but unable to match offers they can get on the open market.

Vainauskas had promised to do all he could to keep Babrauskas, but stated openly that he would not be able to offer him the wages he deserves. He said that he hoped Babrauskas would return to Rytas in the future, and he would always be welcome.

Baynes and Sinica were not performing as hoped and management had lost faith in them.  Sinica might still play with Perlas.

The players remaining at Rytas will be Jonas Valančiūnas, Milko Bjelica, Kenan Bajramovic, Artūras Jomantas, who will also be the new team captain, Žydrūnas Kelys, Martynas Gecevičius, Simas Buterlevičius and Igor Milosevic.

New signings are Australian Brad Newley, Šiauliai forward Arvydas Šiksnius, and with an eye on developing young talent, three Perlas players; Giedrius Staniulis, Paulius Dambrauskas and Eimantas Bendžius.

Negotiations were recently concluded in the signing of the two final players for the roster; point guard Jerry Johnson and centre Cemal Nalga.

Johnson will be the main point guard for the team and has played with coach Drazen Anzulovic before. Nalga is said to be an intelligent tall who will play second big man behind Valančiunas.

Lietuvos Rytas likes to get its house in order early in the off-season, and their roster for next season was pretty much finalised before other European leagues had finished their finals. Vainauskas has stated that their goal for next season is to make it to the Euroleague quarterfinals.

There is a lot of excitement around the development of the 210 cm Valančiūnas who many regard as the next Sabonis, so much so in fact that there is said to be a lot of interest from Olympiacos in buying his contract.

Still, at 18 it is expected he will remain in Lithuania at least for next season where he will receive the court time he still needs in his development. Vainauskas has stated that he will be playing 30 – 35 minutes a game with Rytas, something he won’t be able to do in other Euroleague teams.

Žalgiris

Žalgiris will go into next season with a much more stable line-up.  Only three players are out of contract - Povilas Čukinas, Travis Watson and Tadas Klimavičius. 

Given Klimavičius’ performance last season, especially in the finals, the club is expected to work hard to retain his services.  All three have a plus one clause in their contracts.

One major addition is Mindaugas Kuzminskas, the 20 year-old from Šiaualiai. Mindaugas has withdrawn his application for the NBA draft so he is sure of at least one season in Kaunas.

Kuzminskas is a fine player with good height and range and averaged 16.7 points per game in LKL and 13.3 in BBL. General consensus is that he needs to play more basketball against better defence and head for the weight-room on his nights off.

The management in Kaunas are also looking to sign a new point guard and centre for next season, and there is some talk that they might lend some of their younger players to other clubs where they would get more court time, leaving room for other new signings.

As far as the coaching position goes, there was talk of Kurtinaitis and Chomičius being possible candidates. Kurtinaitis has all but ruled himself out after meeting Romanov and stating he wants a say in recruitment, as well as total control of the team.

Kurtinaitis is still awaiting further offers and has stated he wants to coach in Euroleague next season.

Off Court

The off court banter continued after the finals with public letters flying both ways.  Jonas Vainauskas is still threatening Romanov with libel, who in turn said he would agree to apologise if Jonas admits he suggested buying the LKL title in jest. 

Courtesy of IronMind Enterprises, Inc.
CRandall J. Strossen

Žydruūnas Savickas was equal first in the Strongman Champions League–Ireland contest on 6 June.

Savickas tied with Terry Hollands after a count-back failed to separate the two big men. Both competitors had taken three wins, two second placings and a fourth on the day, so the judging committee took the rare decision of announcing them joint winners.

The battle for third was equally enthralling as Agris Kazelniks pipped Alexander Klyushev by three points after being tied coming into the final event.

Ireland turned on a nice sunny Sunday in Limerick for the first Strongman Champions League to be held on the Emerald Isle and organisers, fans and competitors are looking forward to making the trip again next year.

Arvydas Macijauskas announced his retirement from basketball. The Lithuanian Kalashnikov, as he was sometimes referred to, cited back problems as the reason.

Earlier surgery to his Achilles tendon resulted in a back problem that would need surgery and another year of rehabilitation, and the 30 year old shooting guard reluctantly contacted the Lithuanian Basketball Federation with his retirement decision because he was on the preliminary list for the national team.

After training hard in Miami for the last month he realised the extent of the injury and says that he wants to continue a career in basketball, but this time calling the shots rather than making them.

Both of Lithuania’s brightest prospects for the NBA draft have withdrawn their applications, opting instead for another year in the European leagues.

Mindaugas Kuzminskas had offers from many NBA clubs to participate in training camps, but in the end decided to take up the invitation for the National Team Second Squad, and to concentrate all his efforts there.

It was also expected that Kuzminskas would only be picked in the second round and he hopes to improve his stock for next year and a better chance of being a first round pick. Kuzminskas will move from Šiauliai to Kaunas next season.

Donatas Motiejūnas had pulled out of the draft a bit earlier after a somewhat disappointing season in Italy.

Many experts cited his reliance on natural ability rather than hard graft for his fall from grace, but both boys need more experience and a lot of time in the weight room before they can be considered legitimate NBA contenders.

It’s not just the men that have to perform for the European Championships to be held in Lithuanian next year. Recently seven Lithuanian dance groups were put through their paces to see if they qualify for the upcoming championships.

The basketball team dancers for Šiauliai, Vilniaus Lietuvos Rytas and Kaunas Žalgiris, as well as Amber Dance from Vilnius, Energym from Panevėžys and Arebescas from Marijampolė all had to perform seven routines in Klaipėda where they were judged on dance, acrobatics, dress and communication with the audience, among other things.

Irena Valantinienė said that Lietuvos Rytas, Kaunas Žalgiris and Amber Dance stood above the rest and will be recommended for Eurobasket 2011, though there was still room for improvement.
Further she said that hopefully it will be all Lithuanian dancers used for the tournament and if Šiauliai should work on their routines they have the best chance of also making the grade.

In front of a packed house of 10,000, Lietuvos Rytas made full use of its home court advantage to take the deciding game in the best of seven series 80-71.

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While Rytas were favourites to take the win, when a series comes down to a single game anything can happen. As it turned out the home team settled the better of the Lithuanian rivals and pulled away in the third quarter on the back of a 10 - 0 run which they were able to defend for the rest of the game.

Both teams displayed nerves at the beginning of the encounter, but Žalgiris were able to make more of their early shots before a Rytas rally closed the first quarter at a modest 16 - 15 in favour of the visitors.

Baynes injured his leg and would not return for the game. Bjelica, starting off the bench, took on the added responsibility with relish and showed why he was so sorely missed during his injury.
In his characteristic unfussed style he provided the surety under the boards which had been missing for much of the series.

The arm-wrestled continued into the second stanza, this time Rytas went into the long break with a single point lead, and the series was further reduced to just 20 minutes on the floor.

Halfway through the third quarter the status quo was maintained with the scoreboard showing 41 - 40 to the advantage of the hosts as the teams swapped turnovers and missed shots.

Then the penny started to drop. A Pocius shot was matched by a pair from Bjelica, then Šalenga had his score equalised by Babrauskas, but then Rytas hit their straps.

Buoyed by the vocal and intense crowd Rytas put on the 10 - 0 run that would win them the game, and a reasonably comfortable 54 - 43 lead at the last break.

With turnovers still a factor, nothing was going Žalgiris way as even a buzzer beater on three quarter time was disallowed after the refs checked the video.

When Žalgiris couldn’t close the gap early in the last, they turned to fouling Rytas to stop the clock, but the hometown boys remained resolute and took their chances from the charity stripe. Both teams were good from the line, with Rytas especially making 27 from 28 on the night.

With 15 lead changes and 7 ties for the final game the fireworks literally started on the Rytas celebrations with a few minutes left.

Bjelica finished with 24 including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc, and Gecevičius and Bajramovic 15 each. Gecevičius was also voted MVP for the series.

For Žalgiris Capin had 15, Kalnietis 13 and Šalenga 9.

Kurtinaitis praised his players, especially Bajramovic for his leadership, and Gecevičius for consistency and maturity way beyond his years.

Kurtinaitis also went on record to say that he would remain with the club if offered the job next season.

The heat and intensity of the Kaunas Žalgiris stadium (Hale) ignited another spectacular performance from the team in green, and the LKL Final best of seven series now stands at 3 - 3

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Lietuvos Rytas and most of the fans went into game six feeling that the back of Žalgiris had been broken after a solid performance by Rytas in game five. How long could a team keep going forward without a coach? The answer - at least one more game.

Rytas got off to their customary slow start in Kaunas and only managed to score 14 points in the first quarter after only adding one point in the first four minutes. The good news was that they were able to keep the home team to 21.

Rytas had a big scare in that first quarter when Bajramovic went down clutching his knee, but it appeared a hit rather than a twist and he returned for the second half.

Not so lucky was the sight of Jomantas going down clutching his foot - after the game Kurtinaites said he was unlikely to return for the next game with a badly twisted ankle.

The second quarter featured a 7 - 0 run by Rytas and the scores were soon tied, and the arm wrestle continued for the next two quarters.

Žalgiris bettered their three point shooting percentage from Vilnius and took their chances from the charity stripe as both teams worked hard in a defensively oriented encounter.

It wasn't pretty basketball, but it was tough and hot as both teams struggled in the intensity of the Hale. After the match Kurtinaitis said when he was Minister for Sport they worked hard to heat the stadium in winter, but had neglected to cool it in summer, and that the conditions led to early fatigue. Still, he also noted it was the same for both teams.

On the home court Kurtinaitis also said that the advantage Žalgiris had in playing there was equal to an extra top class player, and that all of Europe was wary of playing there. But back to the game.

With a one point lead at half time it seemed that Rytas had caught up and were now going to run over the team now openly coached by Marcus Brown, but they forgot to send Žalgiris the script.

In the third the status quo was maintained as both teams added 18 for the quarter with the scoreboard showing 58 - 57, and all to play for in the last.

Rytas got a few points up, but when they got to 63 points within the first three minutes, Žalgiris had matched them. There Rytas stayed for the rest of the game - scoring only five points in the final quarter.

The final term had turned into a grind as both teams failed to score for a long time. Even when Žalgiris got a point or two the margin was still close enough for either side to win, but with each Rytas mistake and unsuccessful attack the tide shifted ever more towards the home team.

With Bjelica fouled out Kurtinaitis turned to the bench to make up the difference, but they couldn't do it.

Šalenga hit a three, and Kalnietis got a couple more from a fast break as the crowd got behind Žalgiris and together they sailed home for a very well deserved and hard fought 77 - 63 victory, and more importantly, their chances of securing the LKL title still well and truly alive.

It was a night of team pressure and performance, and there were no stand-out stats. Šalenga had 15, including what was probably the most important three pointer of the night, Kalnietis 12 and Watson and Delas 10 each for the home team.

Bajramovic ended up with 12, Gecevičius 11, Milosevic had 5 turnovers to go with his 9 points, Bjelica 8 and Baynes 7.

See you in Vilnius on Monday night.

Lietuvos Rytas is just one step away from taking the LKL crown and booking a ticket to Euroleague.

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Using their home-court advantage the team from Vilnius controlled the whole of game five to take a one game lead in the series needing just one more win to take the coveted title LKL title.

Rytas got off to a great start taking a 14 - 1 lead early in the game and then managing to defend it for the next 35 minutes.

With Zavackas injured, Babrauskas stepped into the starting five and proved a worthy replacement as his customary grit and determination was put to good use, hitting three from three up close, two from two from range, and only letting himself down with four from six from the charity stripe for a total of 16 points.

Žalgiris looked determined, but couldn't conjure the zest from their last home game. If Babrauskas was disappointed with his foul shooting, then the team of green must have been livid, because they ended the game with 22 from 35, but their percentage was boosted by some uncharacteristic accuracy in the final quarter.

Počius dropped in 20 points on the night, but he had few friends as Šalenga and Kalnietis with 12 each were the next best with Capin chipping in with 10 of his own.

Gecevičius returned to his usual form on his home court and proved the usual steadying influence as he finished with 18 points. Bajramovic did the bulk of the heavy lifting under the bucket, dropping in 21 points along the way. Milosevic played 35 minutes, and while only scoring 8 points, was able to direct play and keep the Rytas wheels turning for most of the night.

For the first time Kurtinaitis was happy with his charges after the game, content in their desire and work ethic. He noted that Bjelica was still improving after a long time out injured, and assured everyone that Zavackas will do everything possible to be available for the next game.

Romanov was on the Žalgiris bench throughout the night, seated next to Sakalauskas, but neither went near the Žalgiris huddles during time-outs.

It was Počius who turned up as the Žalgiris coach, and refrained from making any comments on the politics preceding the game and could say little more than that they will try harder at home where they are usually a much better team.

Kurtinaitis was celebrated his 50th birthday during the week and was acknowledged before the game. When asked at the press conference if this win was his birthday present, he said it was only half of it.

So after a long week of intrigue both on and off the court, it is Rytas who go to Kaunas on Thursday in the box seat. Needing only one win to send the champagne corks flying they are clear favourites, but this has been anything but a normal series, and expect anything to happen on Thursday.

It took a rudderless Žalgiris to be the first team in this series to play consistently throughout a whole game. The 13 point home win brought the series back to parity, with scores tied at 2 - 2 with three to play.

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Amid the mist of rumour and innuendo that followed the sacking of Maskoliunas, before the game it was also made public that Assistant Coach Markevicius was also no longer with the club. All eyes looked to Brown, but the official scoresheet had team captain Darius Salenga listed as coach.

Salenga made an appeal to the packed house and fans of  Žalgiris before the game, asking for their support, and in return promising the total commitment of his team. And that's what they delivered. Playing without a coach they put up their most consistent effort of the series so far.

Žalgiris had a 10 point lead by the second quarter and used that margin to hold Rytas at bay for the rest of the game.

For the first time in the series the Žalgiris defence clicked, especially when it came to keeping Gecevičius under wraps - he only scored 5 points for the game, the first in the third quarter and three of them from the line. Over the first three encounters Gecevičius averaged over 21.

Marcus Brown hit 17 for the home team from a combination of bombs and drives and Salenga followed up his coaching with 13 from the floor while Pocius and Watson added 10 each.

Milosevic led the scorers for Rytas with 14, as the trio of Baynes, Babrauskas and Jomantas added 10 each.

You could say the difference was in the three pointers, with Rytas hitting a paltry three from 16 at 18.8% and Žalgiris hitting six from 16.

After the game Kurtinaitis again expressed concern over his imports, suggesting they wanted to go home already, and that he was simply unable to guide this team as they did what they wanted.

In this game Kurtinaitis went deeper to the bench giving Valančiunas and Sinica court time, as well as trying Ginevičius again, perhaps hoping that the lack of homework by Žalgiris might cause some problems, but it didn't. Žalgiris remained steadfast.

Kurtinaits' prediction that this will be a seven game series also looks like coming true.

With the series back at square one the two Lithuanian powerhouse teams face off again on Monday night in what is now a best of three series.

Žalgiris will go into the fourth game of the LKL series with a new coach after Darius Maskoliunas was prevented from entering the Žalgiris training session by order of owner Romanov, and was forced to resign.

First reports are that Assistant Coach Markevicius was offered the job, but he declined. Romanov is reported to have said that Marcus Brown as a playing coach along with Sarunas Sakalauskas would be his preferred option at this stage, but Marcus Brown was said not to be keen to take on the extra responsibility.

The options for Žalgiris are somewhat limited as according to LKL regulations you cannot appoint new coaches or players after 1 March, so the appointment has to be made from within the club. Sarunas Sakalauskas is an experienced coach who currently works as Director of Sport at Žalgiris.

The pretence for the Maskoliunas resignation was that he was adversely affecting the outcome of game results, and official betting has been temporarily suspended until a review tomorrow, when business is expected to resume as normal.

Last night's training session was led by Markevicius, and it is expected that he will eventually take the helm at Žalgiris.

Whoever takes the job will be the fourth Žalgiris coach this season after Krapikas and Butautas also had their seasons cut short.

Vilnius Mayor Andrius Kupčinskas voiced concern over the lack of stability at the club, and made the point that Kaunas City Council makes substantial payments to the club which proudly carries the Kaunas name.

Kupčinskas said that if the constant turnover of coaching staff continues the council would have to reconsider its position as sponsor.

Kupčinskas said he was surprised by the release of Maskoliunas so soon after winning the BBL Cup, just as Butautas similarly hit the road not long after making it to the next round of Euroleague.

The series of contrasting quarters continued as Vilnius Lietuvos Rytas was the first team to make use of the home court advantage to record a win in this series. But again, it was not without drama - and heaps of it.

See Photos

Up by 19 points at the long break, a relaxed and over-cautious Rytas came back from the dressing room devoid of the energy and team-play that got them into such a commanding position.

But as has been the case in this finals series, there was still plenty of drama to come, and much of it was taking place behind the scenes.

In what seems a mess of rumour and speculation, it appears that Romanov, the owner of Žalgiris, had tried to get Maskoliunas to resign before this game, but the team stood firmly behind their coach, and thus he led them in the third game of this best of seven series. Speculation was rife as Maskoliunas only appeared on the sidelines much later than usual.

This could also explain the extra desire the Žalgiris brought with them from the break and they kept pounding on the Rytas lead as a clearly distraught Kurtinaitis again relied on a core of seven players to get them over the line.

In short, Žalgiris got a few points ahead late in the final quarter, but following an exchange of three pointers that made their way home via the backboard, it was a massively relieved Rytas and an ecstatic crowd that took the win.

After the game Maskoliunas praised his team's desire and never-say-die attitude, but as the story unfolds, it seems there was the other unseen aspect to his praise after they had stood behind him.

Kurtinaitis on the other hand was dumbfounded as to how his charges could have given up a 20 point lead, and accused some of playing without heart and wasting their basketball skills. He specifically excluded Jomantas and Gecevičius, but said he was frustrated in coaching a team that just played however it felt like.

Still, he said a win was a win, and he was happy for it, but considering the exchange of late three pointers, this one was the result of luck rather than good management.

Šiauliai took bronze in the play-off for third place in front of their home crowd, after winning the series against Utenos Juventus 3 - 0.

Šiauliai secured their usual position as third strongest team in the Baltics after also taking the bronze in the Baltic Basketball League after a controversial final in Vilnius recently.

Šiauliai completed the trio of necessary wins with a 20 point drubbing of the visitors from Utena, after being taken to the wire in the previous encounter against Juventus when only three points separated the teams at full time (94 - 97), and Juventus had a chance to tie the game with seconds to go.

At home though Šiauliai reigned supreme, with a 29 point 104 - 75 win in the first game bookended by the 87 - 67 victory in the series clincher.

Šiauliai will have to work hard to maintain their regular position in the Baltic basketball hierarchy with Sireika bemoaning the fact that he will be losing many players next season, especially Mindaugas Kuzminskas who currently has nominated for the NBA draft, but is expected to play with Žalgiris next season, and Arvydas Siksnius who has signed a long-term contract with Lietuvos Rytas.

With their season pretty much on the line, Rytas rallied to bring the LKL series back to parity with the second away win in the second game of the best of seven series.

See Photos

Getting a win in Kaunas has troubled the very best of Euroleague teams, so it was a daunting task facing Rytas after their sobering defeat just three days earlier.

This time Rytas managed to stick to the script as they tightened their defence, Buterlevičius came off the bench to keep the lid on Kalnietis, and indeed Klmavičius was kept to just 6 points.

This game was almost the direct opposite of the first as Kaunas had Delas returning from injury and Watson playing with a face-mask after his 10 stitch souvenir from the first game. Begic was already ruled out for the rest of the season after the first game, but Brown was OK to play.

This time Rytas started solidly and managed to keep creeping ahead as both teams understood the importance of the game and were equally full of endeavour.

Rytas was ahead a couple of points after the first quarter with a 19 - 17 lead, but managed to really pull away in the second quarter on the back of a 15 - 4 run that gave them the cushion they managed to defend for the rest of the game.

In the final quarter a barrage of desperation three pointers reduced the  Žalgiris deficit to just seven points late in the last, but a composed Rytas made them pay from the charity stripe as Kaunas tried to defend the clock and hope for a Rytas slip-up, but by the final buzzer Rytas was going home with a 75 - 64 victory under its belt.

Coach Maskoliūnas said Žalgiris had taken a step backwards after moving forward in the previous game, while Kurtinaitis praised his charges for their defence in particular and noted that any win in Kaunas is an achievement.

Kurtinaitis further said he was looking to the next game at home on Monday night, and we are also waiting to see who'll take the next step forward in the series that Rytas has to win in order to play in Euroleague next season.

Žalgiris took a decisive away win in the best of seven series for Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) glory.

See photos

A disorganised Rytas failed to find any rhythm or teamwork as both teams struggled to score in the early minutes, but Žalgiris was the first to start doing some damage on the scoreboard.

Rytas welcomed back Bjelica, Milosevic and Jomantas for this important final series but it was soon obvious that their mere presence was not enough to guarantee a Rytas victory in this important first home game. Žalgiris had a seven point advantage at the first break, with Rytas only able to score 13 in the quarter.

There was more resistance in the second quarter, but still Rytas lost the term by a point and took a total eight point deficit into the locker-room at half time and the scoreboard showing 40 - 32 in the visitor's favour.

The hope among fans was the Kurtinaitis could ignite a bit of fire under his charges during the break, and Rytas/Žalgiris matches are often games of contrasting halves.

Rytas indeed opened stronger and a Ginevičius triple had Rytas within a single point later in the stanza, but Klimavičius stepped up to extinguish the threat as he added 16 in the quarter and Rytas went into the final break having only managed to reduce the difference by a single point at 64 - 57.

Watson was taken to the hospital for 10 stitches after an in game encounter with an errant Zavackas' elbow late in the term, and did not return to the game.

With all to play for, and any hope hinged on the final quarter, a scrap ensued as both teams struggled to hit the target, despite plenty of opportunity. With Begic and Brown also hobbling onto the injured list and out of the game, it was the unlikely Milaknis who stepped up to save the day for the team from Kaunas.

Milaknis hit three treys from four to put the result beyond doubt and the final scoreline read 90 - 77.

Kurtinaitis said that his main fears before the game were that the return of his injured players would be at the cost of cohesive teamwork, and that indeed proved the case as every player seemed intent on taking it upon themselves to win.

The coaches other worry was Klimavičius who he stressed had to be kept below 15 points for them to win, and with 22 next to his name it was too much for Rytas to overcome.

Gecevičius hit 18 for Rytas, Bajramovic 16, Milosevic 12 and Ginevičius 9.

For the visitors Kalnietis added 19, Šalenga 12 and Milaknis 10.

For photos from the BBL Final Four see our Photo Gallery

Žalgiris took the BBL trophy back to Kaunas - their first major victory in two years.
The Final Four weekend of the BBL season was a real thriller with every game offering intrigue and surprise.

First off in the qualifiers Lietuvos Rytas was in fact lucky to make the final after Šiauliai proved a stubborn opponent, and the visitors had a more than a fair chance of winning in the final seconds before a relieved Rytas triumphed 78 - 77.

Žalgiris had less trouble getting ahead of Ventspils, setting the scenario for the finals that everyone expected.

On the day of the finals, the drama began in the bronze medal game. It was a tight encounter between two teams playing well, with Ventspils holding Šiauliai at bay for most of the game.
Well all of the game really, because a late rally got Šiauliai back to within a point and a scramble in the dying seconds saw a tap-in two-pointer allowed as the referees signed off on a 84 - 83 Šiauliai win.

Video replays showed that the tap was indeed after the siren, but because the statutes did not allow for the consideration of video replays, instead of reversing the decision, it was later decided to replay the bronze medal game the next day.

Ventspils did not turn up for that game and Šiauliai were declared winners by default.
In the gold medal encounter it looked a procession up until half time, with Rytas taking a 14 point lead into the locker room, and appearing to be totally in control ahead 46 - 32. But unfortunately for them, no-one told Žalgiris.

After the break the surety, accuracy and defence of Rytas fell away as Žalgiris found form and were able to make it show on the scoreboard.

The team of green got ahead in the third quarter on the back of three pointers from Klimavičius, Brown and Capin, before Rytas steadied enough to take a single point lead to the last break.
The scrap continued in the final stanza as both camps wrestled for control, until an inspired Klimavičius added five points in a row to finally hand Žalgiris the initiative along with the win.

It was a fitting final for what well may be the swan song of the BBL as we know it.

VTB United League

With both Žalgiris and Lietuvos Rytas feeling there is a lack of real competition in the local leagues, both teams are expected to opt for the VTB United League next season where they will come up against the likes of Moscow CSKA, Unics Kazan and Khimki.

One option is for the two Lithuanian powerhouse teams to enter the BBL competition at the semi-final stage, but it would still be a totally different scenario to what we have now.

LKL

With the BBL decided, it was time to continue the race to LKL glory, and now with some added spice.

Rytas are expecting the return of Jomantas, Milosevic and Bjelica for the best of seven series, and with home court advantage on their side again, they hope it will be enough to get the sour taste of the BBL loss out of their mouth.

On the other hand Žalgiris has managed to come up smelling of roses every time they seemed to be heading for the manure works this season.

Even in their elimination series against Šiauliai where they were taken to the wire both times, they still managed to stay composed and victorious over a determined and very efficiently Sireika-coached unit.

Rytas had an easier time with Juventus, though the comfortable margins didn’t fully reflect the quality and endeavour of the upstart team from Utena.

Still, the second 84 - 63 win gave Kurtinaitis the opportunity to give Jomantas and Bjelica a bit of court time flagging their imminent return for the best of seven final series.

Already players and coaches from both teams have been using the media to express their thoughts on the upcoming encounter with talk of revenge, destiny and a hard fought series coming from both sides.

We say: Bring it on!

The LKL Finals begin on Tuesday 4 May, the very day this issue hits the streets, so keep an eye on our photo gallery for the latest pics.

Macijauskas goes back to School

Arvydas Macijauskas has enrolled in the Masters in European Basketball Coaching Science course provided by the University of Worcester in cooperation with the Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education.

Macijauskas, who is still hoping to contribute to the Lithuanian effort at the basketball world championships later this year, is looking beyond his playing career and taking the opportunity to brush up on his theory.

While not categorically stating he has a coaching future ahead of him, he told Mūsų Krepšinis it was certainly an option for a person like him who so loves basketball so much.
We hope there they will have big desks because among his classmates will be Linas Kleiza and Robertas Javtokas.

Lithuanian World Rugby Record

The Lithuanian Rugby team recently defeated Serbia 77 – 5, and in the process wrote their name into the record books, but not for the margin as you may think.

The win over Serbia was the 18th in a row for the Lithuanians, breaking the previous joint record held by the South African Springboks and the New Zealand All Blacks.

While some pundits play down the achievement because these victories were over countries such as Hungary, Norway, Austria and higher ranked nations such as Israel and the Netherlands, it is still the result of the dedication and hard work the team has put towards their ultimate goal.

“It’s great to achieve 18 successive wins and be the record holders, but we haven’t yet achieved our goal,” Mindaugas Misevicius, captain of the team told AFP. “We want to qualify for the World Cup in New Zealand.”

The Lithuanian Rugby Team has a World Cup Qualifier on 8 May against the Ukraine, and the winner of that game will meet Romania in a cross-continental play-off for the 20th and final spot in the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

Navardauskas Cycles to Victory in France

Ramūnas Navardauskas won the 14th running of the Tour du Perigord held in France. The 22 year-old Lithuanian who rides for the La Pomme Marseille team, covered the 148 km distance in 3 hours, 27 min and 20 seconds, reports Lietuvos Rytas.

It was Ramūnas’ fifth win for the season.

NBA Scouts Eye Motiejunas

Donatas Motiejunas has caught the interest of the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Laker scouts who saw him play with Benetton Treviso recently. Motiejunas has nominated for the NBA draft and has been averaging 9,8 points and 4,7 rebounds per game in the Italian league.

The LKL final series has begun, with the top eight of the local league all vying for the title. The first round is a best of three fixture with 1 v 8, 2 v 7 and so on.

It’s almost inevitable that Lietuvos Rytas will meet Žalgiris in the final, but we have to go through the motions first.

Lietuvos Rytas v Žalgiris (Photos)

Finishing top was Lietuvos Rytas who defeated Žalgiris in their final regular season encounter to finish with one more win than their arch-rivals and secure the home court advantage for the final series.

With Rytas missing three of its top players a Žalgiris victory seemed more than possible, and after having their fair share of the lead for most of the game, the visitors from Kaunas seemed headed for a win, with their three pointers especially potent early in the encounter.

The final quarter however proved the difference between the teams with Rytas hitting the important shots and going on a 10 - 0 run to get ahead for the last time and finishing with a 90 - 81 win.

Coach Maskoliunas was dumbfounded after the game as to how Žalgiris had played so badly, and had no excuses, guessing that his players had taken the game too easily with Rytas’ injuries.

Kurtinaitis on the other hand was thankful for the win and praised his own boys for their total commitment. He said he still believed there was a chance of all three of his injured players returning, with Bjelica abroad getting further opinion on his injuries, Jomantas hopefully a week or two away, and Baynes about the same.

Igor Milosevic had probably his best game with Rytas scoring 20 points and dishing out nine assists, while Gecevičius hit the clutch shots as usual on his way to 17 and Zavackas and Bajramovic adding another 13 each.

For the visitors Šalenga ended up with 20, Watson 11 and 7 rebounds and Brown 11.

Lietuvos Rytas v Perlas - Game 2 (Photos)

In game 2, the youngsters from Perlas had reason to feel confident seeing Milosevic on the bench as well - this time going up against only 8 Rytas players.

But the occasion overcame them, and it turned out to be a regulation Rytas victory making them the first team into the next round of the finals.

This time Kurtinaitis was scathing in his criticism of his imported players, saying that they all play for themselves rather than the team and he was bitterly disappointed with their effort, despite the 61-89 win.

He singled out Bajramovič in particular, who finished the game with 17 points.

Other Finals

In the other games Šiauliai defeated Techasas 113 - 89 at home and followed it up with 70 - 107 win in Panevėžys, giving Šiauliai a likely encounter with Žalgiris next up.

Meanwhile Juventus took the first game 78 - 66 against Neptūnas and await the return tie in Klaipėda.

* Photo: Tage Olsin

The Lithuanian Department of Physical Education and Sports declared that the Lithuanian Sporting Poker Federation (LSPF) was an official sports federation, thus opening the door for poker to be eligible for official support and sanction from the Lithuanian government.

It also means that Lithuania will be able to hold non-commercial poker tournaments outside of casinos, and in fact the first is scheduled for 24 – 26 April.

“This is extremely important step in our work,” said Andrius Tapinas, the president of the Poker Federation. “We are receiving congratulations from many of our colleagues abroad, and I know that we are breaking thick ice with our progress for similar international initiatives.”

Andrius also said that they would not ask for fiscal help from the government and would instead help in finding additional sponsors for other sports.

Russia and Ukraine are other countries to have officially sanctioned poker as a sport, however Russia de-classified poker last year and closed many ‘card rooms‘, and Ukraine eventually decided that poker did not adhere to article 2 of Ukraine law and similarly deleted it from its list of official sports.

• Ričardas Berankis at the recent Davis Cup tie in Vilnius.
Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis.

TAfter their stellar performance in the Davis Cup tie against the UK recently, Lithuania’s top tennis players were brought down to earth with their ITP rankings slipping back a bit.

Ričardas Berankis went back five places from 191 to 196 in the world, while fellow Davis Cup hero Laurynas Grigelis dropped nine places from 465 to 474, though he has a few more points coming from a good performance at the Spanish F11 Futures tournament recently.

Dovydas Šakinis remains at 860, but there is a bit of support behind the 17 year old, with some experts predicting big things in his future.

Lithuanian girls took three gold medals at the Kunzina Cup, an international Wrestling competition held in Riga recently.

Danutė Domikaitytė (60kg) and Giedre Blekaitytė (65 kg) won their classes in the junior competition, and a youth gold medal was won by Masha Balciunaite (55 kg).

There was also a silver medal for Indre Bubelytė (67 kg), who was competing in a class 8 kilograms more than her usual.
All the girls were from the Atžalynas school in Šiauliai.

* Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis

Tennis fans in Lithuania were treated to their finest hour recently when Lithuania defeated the UK 3-2 in their Davis Cup tie held in Vilnius.

Going into the final day 2-1 up in the best of five series, the UK team, captained by John Lloyd, must have felt comfortable in being able to win one more match. With the UK pairing of Dan Evans and James Ward facing a Lithuanian team of teenagers, and Evans up against a player rated 256 places behind him.

Ričardas Berankis started the final day well with a straight sets 7-6 (6-4) 6-3 6-4 win over Ward setting the stage for a showdown between Laurynas Grigelis and Dan Evans.

A spirited and parochial home crowd cheered Grigelis on to his five set win 6-4 in the fifth.

The UK must now play Turkey in a play-off to avoid relegation to Europe/Africa Zone III, while Lithuania go on to play Ireland in the second round of Group II, having already equalled their best ever performance in Davis Cup competition.

* Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis

As mentioned in the last edition Žalgiris made their presence felt in the Euroleague, and two late wins gave them a chance of progressing further. A victory against CSKA in Moscow was not possible however, so there was no fairytale ending to their Euroleague campaign.

Still, under the guidance of their third coach of the season the team of green has continued to surprise and get further than expected. The only discussion now is whether that success is because or despite the influence of Romanov.

In the local leagues Rytas took the second of the season's trophies with a win in the LKF President's Cup recently. Coming off a 10 day rest and a training camp, the team from the Lithuanian capital defeated Žalgiris 77-65 to even the score for the season so far.

Last weekend the two Lithuanian powerhouse teams met again in the final regular season BBL encounter. This time the Kaunas fans managed to get their boys home in another tough encounter, but Rytas maintained their ladder leading position to finish off the season.

* Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis

As we wrote last issue, the optimistic mathematician got it right, and Žalgiris was the sole Lithuanian team to make it to the Final 16 of Euroleague.

With just three wins from 10 games, Žalgiris was in fact able to secure third position in Group G. The first task for the team in green was getting everyone working together.

Romanov had some presents for new coach Butautas in the way of young point guard Capin and forward Delas to add to the squad, and with their final two wins in the first round it was the return on investment he was looking for.

The Final 16 is a big ask for the inexperienced Žalgiris, but they performed admirably well in their first encounter with Asseco Prokom. The final 24 point margin didn’t paint an accurate picture as Žalgiris were in the competition most of the way.

Next round however was at home, and every visiting team treats ‘The Green Hell’ with respect, especially Moscow CSKA, who have a great history of classic encounters going back to the Soviet years.

Žalgiris had also defeated CSKA recently in the Unified League and must have felt in with a good chance to beat one of the Euroleague title favourites on their home turf.

And that’s how it was. A 10 point lead at half time was testament to the defence, rebounding and outside shooting of Žalgiris, still without league leading rebounder Travis Watson.

But every coach will tell you that a halftime lead can be curse that rejuvenates the opposition, and CSKA came out firing. Šiškauskas, with only one point in the first half, found his range and showed why he was joint MVP last round.

Žalgiris hung on and were still a chance in the last quarter, but the class of CSKA shone through. There was no better illustration of the difference between the two teams than when Capin took some early shots and missed a layup, while CSKA in the same position moved the ball around, found the hot hand and steadily moved into a comfortable position to ensure the win well before regulation.

It wasn’t so much bad play on the part of Žalgiris or Capin as much as a demonstration of where these two teams are at. CSKA know and trust each other and share the load, while at Žalgiris they’re still finding their feet.

The main thing Žalgiris proved on the night is that they will have some bearing on final make-up of the group.

Lietuvos Rytas

Rytas on the other hand was on holidays. After missing out on the Final 16 Kurtinaitis ordered his charges to take a holiday, preferably where there was some sun.

Rytas also sold Bojan Popovic to Efes Pilsen, swapped Brazdauskis for Valančiūnas from Perlas, brought back Kenan Bajramovic and included Igor Milosovic to share point guard duties with Ginevičius.

Vainauskas promised a renewed effort for the rest of the year, and the focus remains very much on defending their titles and working to next year.

• Photo: Tomas Tumalovčius, reporteris.com

Latvians took the first four places at this year’s Halls Winter Rally held in Utena. Janis Vorobjovas and Guntaras Zicanas completed the 12 section course, with a com-bined length of 105.6 kilometres, in one hour, three minutes 5.2 seconds, at an average speed of 99.12 kph.

Rokas Lipeika and his daughter Inga were the best placed Lithua-nian team coming in fifth in a field of 43. This year was the 16th running of the Winter Rally.

Alekna second best of the last decade

• Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis

Track and Field, the influential sporting magazine widely regarded as the Bible of Sport, selected its top ten athletes of the last decade in their March issue.

The editors based their choice on overall impact and stressed quality over quantity in athletic performance.

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, a distance runner was the number one choice, but of most interest to us was second place which went to Virgilijus Alekna, our discus thrower who has done us proud as an athlete and an ambassador to Lithuania.

Six Lithuanian athletes to participate in Vancouver Winter Olympics

Vilnius, Jan 21 (ELTA) - Six Lithuanian athletes will represent Lithuania in the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010. This will be the smallest our delegation since Albertville Winter Olympic Games in 1992.

The country’s Olympic team was approved at the sitting of the Executive Committee of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee (LTOK) on Thursday.

25 year old biathlete Diana Rasimovičiūtė, 4 skiers - 25 year old Irina Terentjeva, 24 year old Aleksejus Novoselskis, 23 year old Mantas Strolia and 20 year old Modestas Vaičiulis, along with 24 year old alpine skier Vitalijus Rumiancevas will represent Lithuania in Vancouver.

LTOK President Artūras Poviliūnas will head the delegation; Olympic Champion Vida Vencienė will be Chief of Mission. Terentjeva, who will participate in the Olympic Games for the third time, will carry the flag at the opening parade. The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games, will be held on 12 – 28 February 2010 in Vancouver.

Lietuvos Rytas fell three points short of reaching the Final 16 in Euroleague on Wednesday night.

Faced with the daunting task of having to defeat group second favourites Unicaja on their home court, a full house packed Siemens Arena in the hope of cheering their boys to victory. In the end a valiant effort was not enough to get the team from Lithuania’s capital into the next round of Euroleague.

Coach Kurtinaitis tried a revamped starting line-up of Ginevičius, Borovnjak, Bjelica, Gecevičius and Jomantas in the hope of getting the drop on the Spaniards and establishing an early lead.

As it turned out the opposite ensued, but both teams took turns at winning quarters, and Rytas took the lead late in the final quarter.

Bjelica enjoyed the elevation to starting centre and collected 18 points and 7 rebounds, and Gecevičius proved his same reliable self in posting 19 and hitting shots when most needed. Babrauskas chipped in with 12, and Ginevičius added 9.

Still, it was a tired looking Rytas team that never quite hit its straps on the night. They managed to stay in the running with characteristic determination but as Unicaja coach Aito Garcia  Reneses said in the post-match press conference, in tight games luck plays a part, and in the last few plays the good lady was with the visitors.

Kurtinaitis said that his charges still lacked maturity, individual skills and were suffering from some fatigue.

Down the A1 in Kaunas it seems the tide has turned, and while last issue I said that it was only the most optimistic mathematician that would give them a chance of making the next round, it seems that mathematicians are now looking through their glasses very much half full.

A new coach and a couple of new players signed in the last week now have Žalgiris in with a show. They need an away win, something which has eluded them for a few seasons, but they have a realistic chance.

Travis Watson is inured and his rebounding prowess will be sorely missed. Fenerbahce Ulker will probably try to attack through the middle to expose this weakness, but with both teams desperate to win anything is possible. Then there is Marcus Brown on the wing, and if his shots are dropping then the improbable could become fact and the unlikely a reality.

Even I’ll be cheering for our Kaunas cousins in the hope of getting at least one Lithuanian team into the Final 16.

Kemzūra appoints coaching staff

Kęstutis Kemzūra has named his team of assistants that will be coaching the Lithuanian National Basketball Team. Aiding Kemzūra in the gym and on the sidelines will be Valdemaras Chomičius, Robertas Kuncaitis and Donaldas Kairys.

Kairys makes a return to the coaching staff after also working with Ramūnas Butautas, while Chomičius and Kuncaitis return to national team duties after a break.

“I chose these people because I value their professional skills. The basic criteria in choosing my assistants was professionalism. Apart from that, I have worked with them before, have had basketball dealings with them, and our basketball philosophies overlap. Each trainer will be assigned specific areas of activity, but we will work together as a team and there will be much debate,” Kemzūra said.

The Lithuanian team will also have a new physical fitness trainer, Evaldas Kondratavičius. Evaldas has worked with junior Lithuanian national teams before and with Dynamo Moscow over the past few years.

Kemzūra added that he might even include more new faces in the coaching and administrative staff if they see the necessity in the future.

Ramūnas Butautas takes the helm at Žalgiris

Speculation about the future of Žalgiris coach Gintaras Krapikas finally came to an end when Ramūnas Butautas was appointed head coach of Žalgiris in December. Krapikas put in his resignation after their loss to Barcelona.

Butautas had the team off to a good start with a win against Cibona in Euroleague last week.

Žalgiris also announced the signing of Mario Delas, a Croatian junior with great perspective, so much so that the team in green have signed him to a three and a half year contract. Mario will meet his team mates in Frankfurt for the first time on their way to Turkey to play against Fenerbahce Ulker.

Another new player, Aleksandr Capin a Slovenian national, has inked a contract until the summer of 2012.

Simona Krupeckaitė Awarded

Simona Krupeckaitė was voted Best Track Cyclist of 2009 by the readers of velodrome.org.uk

She received 12,582 votes, and took the title easily over second placed Australian Anna Myers who had 1470 votes from the 27,000 readers of velodrome.org.uk

This award comes after Krupeckaitė was awarded the best Lithuanian Sportsperson of 2009, which was organised by the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee, Olifeja and the Lithuanian daily Lietuvos Rytas. The award included a prize of LTL50,000 and a sculpture.

Krupeckaitė gathered 78,197 votes, and second was Giedrius Titenis, a swimmer, with 55,350 votes. Third was Virgilijus Alekna, discus, with 49,257 votes.

Lietuvos Rytas basketball team was voted the best team of 2009.

LIETUVOS RYTAS EVENED the mid-season honours as they won their home game against Žalgiris on 12 December.

In a game very much of two halves, the visitors took a seven point first half lead into the locker room, leaving Rytas fans scratching their heads as to how the team might make some sort of come-back, even if only to add a bit of respectability to their performance in front of their home crowd. As it turned out they didn’t have to wait long, and they got more than respectability, they got the all-important ‘W’ as well.

Baynes came out dunking, and within four minutes the home team was a point up, and as other team-mates joined in, it was Rytas up by seven of their own at 30 minutes. Rytas went on to win by 17, and hoped the win would give them momentum going into Wednesday night’s meeting with Olympiacos.

Kurtinaitis praised the character of his team and said they were prepared to go the distance, while Žalgiris sprinted out of the gate, and ran out of puff after beating CSKA Moscow and just going down to Montepaschi Siena in the same week.

Žalgiris still has a mathematical chance of making the round of 16 in Euroleague, but even the most optimistic of mathematicians wouldn’t be holding out much hope at the moment.

Rytas v Olympiacos

Lietuvos Rytas went on to host Olympiacos in an 8th round encounter that was important for both teams - Rytas to secure a berth in the next round, and for Olympiacos to put their suprise defeat against Partizan behind them.

Vilnius fans filled their house as they also welcomed Linas Kleiza back to town, where he is more used to playing in green and gold for the Lithuanian National Team, and being cheered instead of jeered.

Rytas started well, and in a scrappy first quarter took a nine point lead to the first break. The much hoped for return to form of the big boys didn’t eventuate, and Bjelica took the brunt of the workload inside. Despite giving up a lot of size, Rytas did well to end the night even in rebounds with their much taller opponents.

Olympiacos managed to regroup after the first stanza and took their turn in dominating the next quarter. Kleiza was consistent beyond the arc, hitting three from five on the night.

The next two quarters followed the same script, with Rytas winning the third by three and Olympiacos taking the fourth by four - overtime - but the cost was heavy, as both Baynes and Bjelica had fouled out in regulation.

In the extra five minutes Olympiacos coach Giannakis instructed his charges to play through the middle, and with an unsportsmanlike foul called on the first play, the visitors took full advantage dropping both free throws and scoring from the possession to take the wind out of the full house and shore up an away win.

In the round-up Kurtinaitis said his players performed well against one of the best clubs in Europe, and while they had shown good grit and character, it also showed them how much more work they had to do before they can really match it with the best.

Sure this is Lithuania, but there has been a lot happening in the basketball world over the last few weeks. Next issue will get back to covering a broader range of sporting events, but for now it’s all basketball.

Basketballers of the Year

Linas Kleiza was voted the best male Lithuanian basketball player of 2009, while Gintarė Petronytė took the honours for the women.

A total of 14,057 Lithuanian basketball fans voted in the poll, with Petronytė getting 3071 votes and Kleiza 4188 . Both players are plying their trade in the Greek leagues this year.

Kleiza replaces Ramūnas Šiškauskas as Lithuania’s number one player, and this year is the first time there have been separate awards for male and female players.

Kleiza also announced that he had establishment a foundation to support troubled and disadvantaged Lithuanian youth in providing them all with an equal chance to succeed in sport.

FIBA talks Turkey

After an agonising wait, the good news finally filtered through on Saturday 12 December that Lithuania indeed has a ticket to Turkey to contest the 2010 World Basketball Championships.

On Tuesday the group draw was held, and Lithuania is joined in Group D by Spain, France, Canada, New Zealand and Lebanon. While drawing one of the tournament favourites in their first round, even Kęstutis Kemzūra, the Lithuanian National Team Coach said that it was not too bad at all, and that all the groups were fairly even, with a tournament favourite in each.

Spain is favourite in Group D he added, but reminded us that Lithuania defeated the Spaniards in Vilnius before the European Championships earlier this year.

Group A consists of Argentina, Serbia, Australia, Germany, Angola and Jordan. Group B – USA, Slovenia, Brazil, Croatia, Iran and Tunisia. Group C – Greece, Turkey, Puerto Rico, Russia, China and Ivory Coast.

Expensive Turkey Ticket

In the end five of the Lithuanian national team sponsors got together to come up with the required half million euros to buy Lithuania entry into the World Championships, and there is much disquiet among basketball fans and officials that it has come down to a matter of money. Nigeria was especially upset that they simply did not have the financial resources to compete with Western countries in earning, or rather buying a ticket to Turkey.

FIBA claims that the funds will be used to promote basketball, but many remain unhappy about this method of selling the spots in the World Championship, though Mindaugas Balčiūnas, General Secretary of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation said that the testimony of Lithuanian fans, politicians, and their own official presence in Turkey for the final decision were also important contributing factors.

But no doubt the controversy will be forgotten by the time the Championships come around, and we all get down to the serious business of returning Lithuania to its rightful place on the world stage.

The basketball season is now in full swing as Euroleague hits the halfway mark in the home and away series, and local bragging rights were decided in the first regular season local derby for the year.

Lithuania’s powerhouse teams met on Žalgiris’ home court, a venue many opposition teams have nicknamed The Green Hell, and it was the home team that took the honours. Žalgiris took control of the contest in the second quarter and managed to maintain a double digit lead for almost the rest of the game.

Almost was the operative word though, and in the dying minutes Rytas managed to claw back from a 13 point deficit at the final change, to make the final margin three points with a 67:64 scoreline.

Coach Kurtinaitis was surprisingly upbeat after the game, saying he was reasonably satisfied with the three point loss, explaining that he believed they could better that advantage on their own home court in order to earn the decisive first home game in the final series.

He suspected that Baynes might have been somewhat overawed by the partisan Žalgiris crowd, who despite the flu epidemic turned out in large numbers, and that Popovich was also well below his best.

He said their game plan was to try to keep with their team leaders like Brown and Šalenga, but make sure that none of Žalgiris secondary players made any major contributions. Essentially that was the problem, with Pocius coming off the bench for 17.

Krapikas was surprised to be told of Kurtinaitis’ response. A win is a win he said, and he was thankful for the victory. He was especially pleased by the total effort of his team whose overall performance was the foundation for the win.

He was also in greater need of the win. While Žalgiris remains undefeated in the local LKL and Baltic leagues, and with just the one loss in the VTB after a recent win against Azomash where Marcus Brown hit an incredible 37 points with 5/9 two pointers and 7/11 from beyond the arc, the team in green’s problems stem from Euroleague.

With just the one win at the halfway stage, again they played well against Fenerbahce Ulker to go down by only six points, but at one and four they are making it tough to get into the next round. Some good news for the team from Kaunas for a change though was that Asvel Basket defeated Cibona Zagreb, so now three teams are tied on 1 – 4 in Group A, meaning that these three teams are basically playing for the last position to advance to the Final 16.

Lietuvos Rytas go forward having done everything asked of them. The formula in Euroleague is to defend your homecourt and then try to steal an away win whenever possible, and this is exactly how they managed to be sitting at 3 – 2. The one bit of bad news for Rytas was that Partizan Belgrade got up to beat Olympiacos in a major upset, bringing them back into calculations to take them into the Final 16.

Rytas has a lot of work to do with a home game against Olympiacos after their humbling 24 point loss in Greece, and in the last game they host Unicaja, again a daunting ask. With away fixtures against Efes Pilsen and Partisan there is still quite a bit of work for the boys in red and black (when their not wearing white of course).

Then there is a repeat of the civil conflict on 12 December, when this time Rytas hosts Žalgiris in a Baltic league encounter that should keep fans happy until Christmas.

Photo Mindaugas Kulbis

Ramūnas Vyšniauskas was not allowed to enter the World Weightlifting Championships held in South Korea in November.

Despite 11 months of intense preparation and proclaiming his form to be probably the best in his career, three days before being due to start in the up to 105 kg class, he was stricken with the flu and unable to get out of bed.

Still intent on taking his place in the competition he showed up on the day of competition, but the organisers saw his condition, and on measuring his temperature did not allow him to compete. In fact they didn’t even let him inside the competition hall in fear of him infecting other competitors.

Ramūnas was understandably upset, and the Lithuanian Weightlifting Federation felt that he was a good chance for the gold, and was lifting enough for the bronze medal in training.

Junior Judo Success

Lithuanian juniors brought home two medals from the European Under 23 Judo Championships held in Turkey recently.

Karolis Bauža took a gold medal in the up to 90 kg class from 26 competitors, and Raimonda Gedutytė brought back a bronze in the up to 78 kg class in a field of 12.

Savickas lifts new record

Žydrūnas Savickas bettered his own world record in Kaunas recently lifting 212.5 kg in the Log Lift in becoming the current European Champion Strongman.

Žydrūnas has been a perennial winner in strongman competitions around the world over the last 10 years.

Vidas Blekaitis took third place in the same event.

LBBF News

Elsewhere in the basketball world attention is still turned towards the allocation of wildcards for next year’s World Championships. The announcement date remains 13 December and local speculation has varied from optimistic to none, with a few conspiracy theories thrown in for good measure.

The Lithuanian nation awaits news as to whether the national team will play in the world championships. Essentially, we’ll only know on the day, so keep an eye on the next issue.
On 15 December the Lithuanian Basketball Federation will announce the best player for 2009.
A few days later the committee will meet to start the process of choosing the new coach for the Lithuanian National Women’s Team.

Lietuvos Rytas began the 2009-2010 season with an incredible burden – how to defend the five titles it was holding. Five titles in any season is hard enough, but when you are given a reduced budget, lose the core of your starting five and then have to step up a grade to Euroleague, well for most teams that would seem impossible.

Chuck Eidson, Marijonas Petravičius and Mindaugas Lukauskis were offered contracts elsewhere that the Vilnius team couldn’t match, and once again the Rytas scouts were looking for good value recruits that coach Kurtinaitis (pictured above with Gecevičius) could mould into an effective unit. They added the underperforming Bojan Popovic, the untried Aron Baynes and Dejan Borovnjak, who joined Gecevičius, Jomantas, Zavackas, Milko Bjelica, who inked the plus one on his contract, and new captain Babrauskas in taking on the best that Europe has to offer.

Kurtinaitis banked on getting an early start. While most pundits agree that Euroleague starts in earnest in the new year, the coach pushed his boys hard early, hoping to pick up the early wins to get most of the way to the next round before the rest of the teams had hit their straps. It was a tough ask, as the coach himself had national team duties, and not all of the players arrived at camp at the same time.

An added complicating factor is that the warm-up games in the local leagues are hardly the tough preparation an elite team needs to prepare for Euroleague. Kurtinaitis pushed his players, but he admitted that he was working on particular aspects of offence and defence rather than their full game plan.

Rytas enjoys a healthy home-court advantage, and they faced their first test against European powerhouse Efes Pilsen. The Turkish champs boast names such as Santiago and Nachbar, but Rytas was able to use their advanced conditioning and sixth player – the rowdy home crowd – to take a seven point win against the favourites.

Next was a meeting with Euroleague newcomer Entente Orleanaise, and the bonus away win was appreciated, but frankly expected. Olympiacos brought them back down to earth to the tune of 24 before another home court encounter with Partizan.

Again Kurtinaitis put pressure on his charges naming the game a must-win encounter, and to their credit his troops were able to procure the win with a surprising 22 point margin, putting the team from the capital at a solid 3-1 coming to the end of the first round.

Locally Rytas has remained undefeated in the LKL and BBL, though an overtime win against VEF Riga was a close call, as well as costing them the services of Vidas Ginevičius who is out for an extended period with a broken bone in his hand.

The local derby is scheduled for 21 November when the trip to Kaunas will decide local bragging rights.

Interest now turns to the services of Arvydas Macijauskas who lost his court case and should be looking for a team. I’m sure both Rytas and Žalgiris have his number.

Žalgiris draws the short straw

After narrowly avoiding bankruptcy last year, saved by a Romanov buy-out, the team of green started the season well, taking back the first title they lost to Rytas last year - The BBL Cup.
The celebrations were short-lived however, as they drew Group A with Montepaschi, Barcelona and Fenerbahce Ulker in Euroleague.

Compounding their problems has been their tendency to play well against good teams, but less so against the likes of Cibona who they lost to recently. Along with Asvel it is expected that these three teams will battle in their group for a place in the final 16.

The loss of Jonas Mačiulis and Paulius Jankūnas took a lot out of the team, but the return of Marcus Brown, and the addition of Travis Watson (pictured above) and Begic to the remaining Kalnietis and new captain Šalenga gives them a strong starting five.

Žalgiris has also opted to play in the VTB United League which gives them a bit more competition playing against stronger opposition the likes of CSKA, Khimki and Unics.

The Lithuanian National Football Team took a consolation win against group leaders Serbia to end their World Cup qualifying campaign. Under the sodden skies of Marijampolė (pictured) the Lithuanians used the home advantage to end the 10 game series just as they started – with a win.

National hopes were running high last year when Lithuania overcame Romania 3 – 0 in what many regarded as an historic win. It was followed by a 2 – 0 defeat of Austria in Marijampolė, and little Lithuania found itself equal leaders in Group 7.

A loss to Serbia was followed by a win against the Faroe Islands, but then four losses in row put an end to the dreams of a ticket to South Africa in 2010.

Still, a credible fourth place in a group that included France, Serbia, Austria and Romania was some small consolation for a country that had its appetite for football well nourished during the optimistic early rounds, but ended with speculation about coach José Couceiro, whose only guarantee is that the current contract will be honoured.

Meanwhile, the local league wrapped up their season on 13 November with Panevėžys Ekranas taking the honours over Vilnius Vėtra, and Marius Stankevičius chosen as Lithuania’s best player for the second year in a row.

Janušaitis fourth at World Short Course Championships
Berlin, 15 November (ELTA). Lithuanian swimmer Vytautas Janušaitis took fourth place in the final of the 200 metres short course final.
In a time of 1.54.41 he was 2.15 seconds behind race winner Darian Townsend of South Africa. Second in the race was Michael Phelps, winner of eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.

Lithuanians rise in rankings
Lithuania’s 19 year old tennis player Ričardas Berankis has moved to 402nd place in the ATP world rankings. Laurinas Grigelis also moved up to 590th position and Dovydas Šakinis rose 15 places to 912th on the world rankings.
All three Lithuanian tennis players are currently at their career-high ranking. In total 1804 tennis players are classified in the rankings.

The season 2008 - 2009 certainly proved one of the most interesting we’ve seen for a long time, but not always for the best reasons.

Žalgiris was close to going to the wall, and with a fully depleted roster and bankruptcy seeming inevitable at season’s end, it was only the cheque book of Romanov that came to the rescue, very much at the eleventh hour. Still, with a promise of some five million euro and a debt purported to be well over 20 million, the money woes are not over at Žalgiris, and sadly some of their best players, many who remained loyal despite periods of wage uncertainty, are being courted by other clubs.

While Jankunas seemed close to finalising negotiations to keep wearing green for at least another year, it appears that Khimki has won the race for his services. Meanwhile it seems Kalnietis and Maciulis are also destined for other clubs next year.
On the plus side for Žalgiris is the signing of rebounding machine Travis Watson on a 1 + 1 contract, and with Marcus Browne still under contract after being leased last year, there is at least the nucleas of experience around which the new, and necessarily young, Žalgiris team can start to rebuild both its economic and sporting fortunes.

Meanwhile the story of the season was undoubtedly Lietuvos Rytas, who had to order another shelf in their trophy cabinet after winning every title they contested in 2008 – 2009.
Even the most optimistic supporter wouldn’t have even dreamt of such success after the first few months of the season.

First was the change of coach as Kurtinaitis took over the spot at the end of the bench from Sireika, and then as their own money troubles hit, first Nielsen and then Branko Milisavljevic were traded to other clubs in order to shore up finances.

Not the best formula for starting the EuroCup campaign, but in the end it was the inspired leadership of Kurtinaitis and decision to keep Eidson on the roster that allowed Rytas to emerge from the 2008 - 2009 season as the most successful of all time.

After a few ups and downs in the regular season Rytas managed to make it into the next round, largely with on the back of their strong home-court advantage, and with a strong work-ethic based on an eight or nine man roster, a team of committed and determined players managed to overcome the superstars and mega-budgets of teams such as Benetton Basket, Hemofarm Stada, and finally Khimki in the final to ensure themselves a place in Euroleague for the 2009 - 2010 season.

In defeating teams that had up to ten times their own budget, unfortunately Lietuvos Rytas ultimately paid the price of not being able to afford many of their own players for next season. Eidson is at least tripling his money in Israel, and similarly Petravicius and Lukauskis were offered contracts that the club could no longer match.

The local derby again pitted Rytas against Zalgiris in the final and the boys from Vilnius earned the LKL title with a 4 - 1 win that really was much closer than the scoreline suggests. Zalgiris played with pride in the finals despite being over-worked and underpaid, but the title had to be handed back after a home gain.

Kurtinaitis rightly praised his whole team for their effors throughout the seaon and now looks to buildling a new team from scratch.

With the new season just around the corner, and destined to be playing against the big boys in Euroleaugue, Kurtinaitis again has his work cut out for him as Vainauskas announced a reduced budget of six million litas for the forethcoming season, compared to around ten million for the previous campaign.

But first of course there is the little matter of European Championships where all of last year’s adversaries join together with a common Lithuanian uniform to acheive the main goal of qualifying for the World Championships next year which requires at least a fifth place finish.

RV

Denver Nuggets restricted free-agent forward Linas Kleiza has agreed to a two-year, $12.2 million contract with Greek team Olympiakos. The contract has an opt-out clause, which allows Kleiza to again become a restricted free agent next summer.

Kleiza averaged 9.9 points and four rebounds while shooting 44.7 percent as Carmelo Anthony’s backup last season. Olympiakos also has three other former NBA players on their roster: Josh Childress, Andreas Glyniadakis and newcomer Von Wafer. Olympiakos has also expressed interest in Detroit Pistons free-agent guard Allen Iverson. Kleiza’s contract is the largest European deal this summer.

Duffy said that while Kleiza attracted interest from other NBA teams, his client’s restricted free-agency status limited his options.

“There was never any substantive negotiation with Denver,” Duffy said. “Based on that, we turned our interest to a global market.”

Warsaw, June 8 (ELTA) - Lithuanian discus thrower Virgilijus Alekna took second place in the 55th Janusz Kusocinski Memorial competition on Sunday. The 37-year-old discus thrower from Vilnius threw the discus 63 m 93 cm.

This was Alekna’s second competition this season.

The memorial was won by Olympic vice champion Pole Piotr Malachowski. He threw the discus 65 m 98 cm. Hungarian Zoltan Kovago was the third with 62 m 22 cm.