Last summer, the basketball players coached by T. Tarasevičius won silver medals at the European Youth (under 16) Championship and qualified for the world championships through sports.
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“This generation will still have European championships – there will be U18 and U20 age competitions, but the opportunity to participate in the world youth championship is only one,” said the national team coach.
The World Championship will take place in Turkey from June 27 to July 5. This will be the first of seven championships in which Lithuanian teams of various ages will play this summer.
In Group B of the World Championship, Lithuanians will compete against teams from Canada, China, and Cameroon.
“We got real exoticism – teams from 3 continents. It is still very difficult to say anything, but thinking stereotypically, African teams are always characterized by their size, big bodies, and athletic basketball players. The basketball schools of Canada and the USA are practically the same. We are arranging certain things, imagining how opponents might attack and defend. From a tactical point of view, this will be a very interesting experience,” noted T. Tarasevičius.
“It is very important that everyone who comes to the Lithuanian national team plays not for themselves, but for the team. Only a high national team position can attract scouts’ attention, especially in our team, which currently does not have superstars,” the coach concluded.
Coaches and staff of the Lithuanian national team: Tomas Tarasevičius, Eligijus Vaitekūnas, Matas Juzeliūnas, Agnė Ginevičiūtė, Patricija Biečiūtė, Liutauras Kasparas, Rytis Anskaitis.
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Candidates for the Lithuanian U17 national team
Jokūbas Kukta (Kaunas „Žalgiris-3“)
Lukas Šiškauskas (St. Joseph High School, USA)
Rojus Stankevičius (Šiauliai KA „Saulė“ I-ŠSG, Kaunas „Žalgiris-3“)
Augustas Kičas (National KA, Kaunas „Žalgiris-3“)
Kristupas Sabeckas (Kaunas „Žalgiris-3“)
Gabrielius Buivydas (Vilnius KM, Vilnius „Rytas-MRU“)
Benas Biržinis (Capital KM, Vilnius „Rytas-MRU“)
Simas Raščius (Capital KM, Vilnius „Rytas-MRU“)
Arnas Erlickis (Klaipėda KM, „Neptūnas-Akvaservis“)
Paulius Veliulis (Šiauliai Sports Gymnasium, Šiauliai KA „Saulė“)
Joris Sinica (National KA, Kaunas „Žalgiris-3“)
Vytis Šliogeris (KM „Perkūnas“, Kaunas „Žalgiris-3“)
Lukas Lukošiūnas („Tornado“ KM)
Dominik Lavrinovič (Vilnius KM)
Elijas Malinauskas (Cooper IA, USA)
Benas Baranauskas (Berlin ALBA)
