Lithuania Wins Silver in EuroBasket 2015
September 2015
President Dalia Grybauskaitė with the winning Lithuanian team. Photo courtesy lrp.lt (R. Dačkus)
In the 2015 EuroBasket Championships Lithuania won silver, having lost to Spain (80:63) in the finals. Lithuania's president Dalia Grybauskaitė was in attendance for the finals in Lille, France, and congratulated the Lithuanian team on their win.
In the European Basketball Championships Lithuanian has now won gold 3 times (in 1937, 1939, 2003), the silver thrice (in 1995, 2013, 2015) and the bronze once (in 2007). As well, Lithuania hosted the championship twice (in 1939 and 2011).

Further information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroBasket_2015
https://www.lrp.lt/lt/spaudos-centras/pranesimai-spaudai/prezidente-pasveikino-lietuvos-krepsininkus-iskovojus-sidabra/6596/23710
https://www.lrp.lt/lt/spaudos-centras/pranesimai-spaudai/vieninga-ir-laiminti-lietuva-svarbiausia-krepsininku-pergale/6596/23753

Lithuania Loses Out by Two Points on the Bronze in the
2014 Basketball World Cup
September 2014
Lithuania's basketball team welcomed on their return on the steps of the
Vilnius Town Hall. Photo courtesy lrytas.lt
In the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, 30 August - 14 September 2014, Lithuania almost won the third place bronze medal, losing to France by only 2 points.
In the Qualifying Round Lithuania obtained the top spot in its Group D, after losing only one match to Australia. It then went on to win against New Zealand (76:71) and Turkey (73:61) to advance to the Quarterfinals, but then lost to the United States (68:96) in the Quarterfinals. In the playoff for the bronze Lithuania then lost to France by two points (93:95).
Even though they did not win a medal, the fourth placed Lithuania's basketball team received a heroes' welcome on returning back home.

Further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIBA_Basketball_World_Cup
www.lrytas.lt 15/09/14

The Amazing Success of Lithuania's Ramūnas Navardauskas in the
Tour de France
August 2014
Ramūnas Navardauskas winning stage 19 of the Tour de France.
Photo courtesy www.lequipe.fr.
Ramūnas Navardauskas became the first Lithuanian to win a stage in the 101 year history of the famed Tour de France cycle race. Riding with the Italian team Garmin the 26 year old Ramūnas Navardauskas won stage 19 of the 2014 Tour de France on July 19. He also took out 3rd place twice - in stage1 and in the final stage 21 - as well coming 5th, 7th and 12th in other stages. Navardauskas' remarkable performance amazed many.
The previous best performance by a Lithuanian in the Tour de France was in 2002, when Raimondas Rumšas, even though not winning any individual stage, took out 3rd place overall. The 3rd place has now become 2nd place after the disqualification of the then winner.

Further information:
www.lrytas 26-27/07/14, www.lithuaniatribune.com 28/07/14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Tour_de_France
Video - http://www.sbs.com.au/radio/video/312440387785/Ramunas-Navardauskas-and-Tom-Jelte-Slagter-Intervi

Amazing Meilutytė Achieves Triple Gold and World Record
October 2013
Rūta Meilutytė at the championships in Moscow. Photo courtesy lrytas.lt
Lithuania’s amazing young swimming champion, Rūta Meilutytė, has triumphed again. In the FINA Swimming World Cup 2013 in Moscow, October 12-13, 2013, she won 3 Gold medals and shattered a world record!
She won Gold in 50m and 100m breaststroke and in 100m individual medley and broke the world record in 100m breaststroke.

Further information:
www.lrytas.lt 13/10/13
lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaukimo_bdas

Lithuania reaches the European Basketball Championships final again
September 2013
The Lithuanian team with their silver medals. Photo courtesy eurobasket2013.org
On Friday 27th September the Lithuanian basketball team for the fifth time in history made it to the European Basketball Championships finals.
In the semi-final at the Ljubljana "Stožice" arena Lithuania was up against Croatia who had up till then won eight games in a row. Lithuania beat them by 15 points - 77:62 (24:19, 16:18, 21:8, 16:17). Jonas Mačiulis (23 pts.), Linas Kleiza (22 pts.) ir Mantas Kalnietis (18 pts.) together made up 63 points and drove the Croatian team to despair. Jonas Valančiūnas also added to the trio's score and blocked 5 of the opponent's shots. In fact the whole team restrained the Croatians to only 3 three-pointers out of 20 attempts (15 percent).
Unfortunately Lithuania lost against France in the final 80-66. France has won the EuroBasket gold medal for the first time in their history leaving Lithuania to collect their second silver following 1995.
In the European Basketball Championships Lithuania has now won gold 3 times (in 1937, 1939, 2003), the silver twice (in 1995, 2013) and the bronze once (in 2007). As well, Lithuania hosted the championship twice (in 1939 and 2011). It is also interesting that in the run up to the finals, Lithuania had defeated France by the same 14 point margin (76:62), that France defeated Lithuania in the finals.

For more information: http://www.eurobasket2013.org/en/default.asp
Lithuania Triumphs in Modern Pentathlon World Championships
September 2013
Women’s Pentathlon Champion Laura Asadauskaitė.
Photo courtesy pentathlon.org
Men’s Pentathlon Champion Justinas Kinderis.
Photo courtesy pentathlon.org
Lithuania achieved an amazing result at the Modern Pentathlon 53rd World Championships held August 22-27, 2013, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In a day that will be long remembered, on Saturday August 24 Lithuanians took the Gold in both the Men’s and Women’s World Championships!
The Women’s World Championship Gold was won by the Olympic Champion Laura Asadauskaitė, while the Men’s World Championship Gold was won by Justinas Kinderis. In the Women’s Championship the Bronze also went to a Lithuanian, Donata Rimšaitė, competing for Russia. Laura Asadauskaitė has now won Gold in the Olympics and the European and World Championships.

Further information: www.lrytas.lt 24-26/08/13 www.pentathlon.org

Rūta Meilutytė Shatters World Swimming Records
July 2013
Lithuania’s Olympic champion Rūta Meilutytė broke two world records at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain, July 19 – August 4, 2013.
Rūta Meilutytė after her first record breaking swim.
Photo courtesy lrytas.lt
Her first world record was in the semifinals for the women’s 100m breaststroke on July 29. In her world record swim of 1 min and 4.35 she shaved off 0.1 sec off the previous world record set by Jessica Hardy of the USA on August 7, 2009. Rūta then went on to win the Gold in the100m breaststroke finals on July 30 with a swim of 1min and 4.42 sec, just short of her own just previously set world record. In the finals the second place was taken by Yuliya Efimova (Russia) with Jessica Hardy (USA) in third place.
Rūta Meilutytė broke another world record in the 50m breaststroke semifinals on August 3 with a swim of 29.48 sec, which bettered by 0.30 sec the previous record set just a few hours earlier in the heats by her rival Yuliya Efimova. It looks like Rūta it set for another Gold medal win in the finals on August 4.
These are not the only records that Rūta broke in these championships. In the heats for the 100m breastroke Rūta actually broke 2 more records – the European record and the world championships record.

Further information: www.lrytas.lt 29-30/07/13, 03/08/13    www.swimnews.com

Lithuanian Ričardas Berankis displays tennis prowess at the Australian Open 2013
January 2013
Ričardas Berankis at the Australian Open. Photo courtesy lrytas.lt
Lithuania’s top tennis player Ričardas Berankis lived up to the challenges of the 2013 Australian Open in Melbourne and demonstrated his potential to become a top world class player.
After first qualifying for the Australian Open and then sailing through the first 2 rounds of the “Grand Slam” championship, in the third round he became a formidable opponent to the world’s number three player, Britain’s tennis ace Andy Murray. Even though Murray won in straight sets (6-3 6-4 7-5), Berankis proved to be quite a challenge to Murray in a match lasting more than 2 hours. In the Australian Open finals Murray came second, losing to Serbian Novak Djokovic.

Further information:  www.australianopen.com  www.lrytas.lt 19/01/13

Click here for Sport Archive