The president of the Lithuanian Paralympic Committee, Paralympic champion Mindaugas Bilius, hopes that this championship will be organized annually, and that one day Lithuania will also host the competition.
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Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia together aim to strengthen regional cooperation, develop sports, and want to create a more inclusive, professional, and competitive future for Paralympic sports in the Baltic countries and throughout Europe.
Our country’s team consisted of five national team members – world championship bronze medalist Oksana Dobrovolskaja (F11 – class for athletes who are almost completely or completely blind), Osvaldas Kucavičius (F12 – class for visually impaired athletes), Ramūnas Verbavičius (F55 – class for athletes with full arm function but no leg function), Donatas Dundzys (F37 – class for athletes with moderate coordination and movement impairments on one side of the body), and Ramūnas Rojus (F57 – class for athletes with full trunk and upper body control but limited lower limb function; athletes compete seated).
“I am grateful to coach Jonas Baltrušaitis, who tried to prepare me for the competition. At the end of July, the Lithuanian Athletics Championship will take place in Palanga. I hope to improve my personal best there. After that, I will need to start preparing for the 2027 World Athletics Championships for people with disabilities in Tashkent,” says D. Dundzys, who improved his personal record in Estonia.
Young athletes who are just beginning their sports journey also went to the competition – Povilas Mykolas Šaulys, Andrius Kasiulionis, Matas Kureiva, Indrė Praškevičienė, Gabrielė Ivanauskaitė, Kostas Poškaitis.
“Promising youth are gradually emerging. I am glad that I can train them. I hope to raise future champions. And at this Baltic countries championship, they demonstrated stable results. Interest in sports is definitely growing, and that is very encouraging,” says Vytautas Skučas, who trains the young athletes.
Besides R. Rojus, the Estonian club for people with disabilities “Paradoksas” also competed with Iveta Smirnovaitė, Joris Karolis Češkevičius, and Danas Sodaitis.
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“I am happy that such a championship is taking place. I hope it will become a tradition and that the Baltic countries’ athletics championship for people with disabilities will be organized annually. Perhaps one day it will be held in Lithuania as well. This is beneficial for athletes. They get an additional start before the most important competitions – world, European championships, or Paralympic Games. The more competitions, the better for the athletes. This way, we can have more professional athletes on international stages,” says Mindaugas Bilius, president of the Lithuanian Paralympic Committee and Paralympic champion.
According to M. Bilius, the fact that Lithuanian athletes will compete against Latvians and Estonians is healthy competition: “We want to show that Lithuanians are the strongest. We can dominate in athletics. Also, of course, athletes can gain experience from Latvian and Estonian athletes. We can also share experience in organizing competitions. So, this will be valuable experience for the future. I hope,
that together with Latvians and Estonians, we will make sure these competitions take place every year.”
For the first time, three young athletes from the T20 disability class (IQ 75 or below) traveled with the Lithuanian Paralympic Committee team.
“It is nice that coaches in Lithuania are starting to work with athletes with intellectual disabilities. These athletes can participate in the Paralympic movement community. We hope that more athletes with different disabilities will appear,” adds the Paralympic champion.
Before the Baltic countries championship, the Estonian Paralympic Committee also organized an international classification seminar for physiotherapists, sports doctors, coaches, and sports specialists so they could determine in which class an athlete could compete.
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Results of Lithuanian Paralympic team members:
Discus throw
Oksana Dobrovolskaja (F11) – 35.65 m
Ramūnas Rojus (F55) – 34.12 m
Shot put
Donatas Dundzys (F37) – 14.52 m (personal record)
Ramūnas Verbevičius (F55) – 10.15 m
Ramūnas Rojus (F57) – 12.90 m
Javelin throw
Osvaldas Kucavičius (F12) – 54.40 m
Ramūnas Verbavičius (F55) – 26.62 m
