Lithuania preparations for Rio underway
PALANGA (2016 Rio Olympic Games) - Lithuania have launched their preparations for the 2016 Olympics this week in Palanga, a seaside resort town on the shore of the Baltic Sea.
Coach Jonas Kazlauskas started the national team's first training camp with 11 of the 20 players in the country's preliminary squad for the Rio de Janeiro Games, including veterans Robertas Javtokas, Renaldas Seibutis, Antanas Kavaliauskas and Arturas Milaknis.
| Lithuania 20-player squad for 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro |
|||
| Deividas Gailius | Rokas Giedraitis | Mindaugas Girdziunas | Marius Grigonis |
| Arturas Gudaitis | Paulius Jankunas | Robertas Javtokas | Adas Juskevicius |
| Mantas Kalnietis | Vaidas Kariniauskas | Antanas Kavaliauskas | Darjus Lavrinovicius |
| Mindaugas Kuzminskas | Jonas Maciulis | Arturas Milaknis | Donatas Motiejunas |
| Domantas Sabonis | Renaldas Seibutis | Edgaras Ulanovas | Jonas Valanciunas |
Mindaugas Kuzminskas, a key player in the Lithuania side that reached the EuroBasket 2015 Final to qualify for the Olympics, joined the national team in midweek.
Lithuania training camp in Palanga - photo courtesy of LBBF
Kuzminskas is a near certainty to make the Olympic squad and have a prominent role.
Another national team hopeful, Deividas Gailius, will be out of action for several days with a broken nose. The injury, the Lithuanian Basketball Federation have announced, will not require an operation.
Lithuania will not be a full strength but players hoping to boost their chances of making the Olympic squad will have an opportunity to prove their worth in friendly games in Klaipeda against New Zealand and Tunisia on 29 June and 1 July, respectively.
Lithuania beat New Zealand, who are preparing for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Manila, in the Round of 16 at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. They won that game, 76-71.
Tunisia will also be familiar opponents because Lithuania met them in the Preliminary Round of the 2012 Olympics and won, 76-63.
Kazlauskas's team will host an international tournament and face Venezuela (10 July) in Vilnius, the Netherlands (12 July) in Alytus and Belarus (14 July) in Kedainiai.
Lithuania will be closer to full strength by 18 July when they host Spain in Kaunas, with the two teams also meeting on 20 July in Malaga. Spain beat Lithuania in last year's EuroBasket Final in Lille, France, but the Baltic side had already clinched their spot in the Olympics with a superb performance in the tournament.
The Baltic side will leave Europe for Buenos Aires and meet Australia on 25 July and then Argentina 27 July. On 30 July in Sao Paulo, Lithuania will again go up against Australia and then clash with either Olympic hosts Brazil or China the following day.
Lithuania will compete in Group B at the Olympics against Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Nigeria and a team that wins one of the three OQTs.
FIBA
