![]() ![]() The efforts were successful - the Lithuanians became the champions of Europe for the first time, defeating all their opponents and with Talzūnas being picked as the tournament's most valuable player. Even once the reinforcements were made public, opponents were skeptic, with Talzūnas later remembering other teams felt he and Kriaučiūnas were not quality players as "everyone thought that a good player must be tall, raising his hand and dunking into the basket.". The national team was being prepared not only technically, but also physically. To keep secrecy on how Lithuanian Americans were strengthening the team, all preparation games were cancelled and instead prolonged training sessions before the trip to Riga were held behind closed doors. After a telegram was sent to the US, two players arrived one month prior to the tournament, Pranas Talzūnas and Feliksas Kriaučiūnas, the latter of whom was designated as player-coach. Lithuanian player Leonas Baltrūnas was shocked at the article and along with journalist Jonas Narbutas, used a translated version of it to request the inclusion of Lithuanian Americans to Vytautas Augustauskas, director of the Physical Culture Palace. At first, it was decided that the national team at the tournament would not include any Lithuanian Americans however the decision was reversed with only one month remaining, once a Latvian newspaper had printed an extensive article about the second European championship considering Lithuania the weakest of all contestants. The preparations for the EuroBasket 1937 started slowly, with players training only 4 hours a week. įeliksas Kriaučiūnas, one of the most notable basketball personalities in interwar Lithuania Savickus in particular became a player-coach, and while the national team had just been trounced by inaugural European champions Latvia 123–10, one year later, with Savickus leading the team and exploiting stalling techniques, Lithuania trailed only 14–7 at halftime before losing 31–10. Two of the players, Juozas "Joseph" Zukas and Konstantinas "Konnie" Savickus, stayed to teach basketball secrets to Lithuanians and be a part of the national team. The following year, a delegation of Lithuanian American athletes from Chicago arrived in Kaunas as participants of World Lithuanian Congress. ![]() In 1935, Lithuania decided to promote a World Lithuanian Congress in temporary capital Kaunas, inviting ethnic Lithuanians from many countries to unite the Lithuanian culture. Things started to improve in 1934, when the Physical Culture Palace was opened in Kaunas, featuring a spacious hall with 200 seats and cork floor built for tennis that was suitable for indoor basketball. Physical Culture Palace Lithuanian Americans build a squad (1930s) The Lithuanian national team won the EuroBasket for the third time in 2003, and also a bronze medal at the 2010 FIBA World Cup. Lithuania won bronze medals at the first three Summer Olympics to include NBA players – 1992, 1996, and 2000 - in addition to finishing fourth in 20, and in eighth place in 2012. The most prevalent example was the 1988 Olympic basketball gold medal-winning team, which got most of its scoring from four Lithuanians: Valdemaras Chomičius, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Arvydas Sabonis.Īfter the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990, the national team was resurrected. Following the country's annexation by the Soviet Union during the war, Lithuanian players frequently formed the core of the Soviet national team. The 1939 team was led by Frank Lubin, who helped popularize basketball in the country and was called the "grandfather of Lithuanian basketball". The Lithuanian national team won the last EuroBasket tournaments prior to World War II, in 19. Despite Lithuania's small size, with a population of less than 3 million, the country's devotion to basketball has made them a traditional force of the sport in Europe. They are controlled by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Lithuania. The Lithuania men's national basketball team ( Lithuanian: Lietuvos nacionalinė vyrų krepšinio rinktinė) represents Lithuania in international basketball competitions. ![]()
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