Gintaras Kadžiulis’s proteges will start the championship on Saturday evening. Our team will meet with Slovenian basketball players from 19:00 in the Trentino region, writes ltu.basketball.
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On Sunday from 21:30, the Lithuanian youth national team will face Bulgarian basketball players, and will conclude the Group C stage on Monday with the German national team. The start of these matches is at 19:00.
There are also famous names in the national team. These are Saulius Štombergas’s son Ignas Štombergas, Marius Prekevičius’s son Emilis Prekevičius, Motiejus Krivas’s brother Gabrielius Krivas.
Speaking about the preparation for the European Championship and the atmosphere within the team, head coach G. Kadžiulis said:
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„I evaluate the preparation positively. The tournament in Spain showed our weaknesses. We tried to correct them in the remaining time. In the Baltic Cup, we felt that we had moved forward. I hope that with each game we will feel even better in team actions. I would like to see “hungry” guys fighting for every ball and centimeter on the court. The championship will show if we managed to become a real team.“
Last weekend, the U18 Lithuanian national team triumphed in the Baltic Cup, which included basketball players from Latvia, Estonia, and Poland.
G. Kadžiulis’s proteges participated in a prestigious tournament in Spain during their preparation, where they met with the national teams of Serbia, Latvia, and Spain.
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All 16 national teams of the Old Continent will qualify for the European Championship playoffs.
- Group A: Israel, Austria, France, Greece
- Group B: Turkey, Slovakia, Serbia, Denmark
- Group C: Lithuania, Germany, Bulgaria, Slovenia
- Group D: Italy, Estonia, Spain, Latvia
The top 5 teams will qualify for the 2027 U19 FIBA World Cup.
- U18 Lithuanian National Team coaches and staff: Gintaras Kadžiulis, Žygimantas Janavičius, Aistis Pilauskas, Martynas Liuima, Paulius Steponavičius, Dominykas Bručas, Lukas Pupeikis.
Lithuanian National Team roster for the U18 European Championship:
- Emilis Prekevičius (V. Knašius Basketball School, Tenerife „La Laguna“ Academy)
- Kornelijus Snitka (Vilnius Basketball School, Vilnius „Rytas-2“)
- Galius Černeckis (Vilnius Basketball School, Kaunas „Žalgiris-3“)
- Jonas Trivokas (Vilnius Basketball School, Vilnius „Rytas-MRU“)
- Emilis Žibūda (Leighton Christian School, London „Lions“)
- Dovydas Jakštonis (Kaunas BC „Žalgiris“ Academy, Kaunas „Žalgiris-3“)
- Aironas Žymantas (V. Knašius Basketball School, Klaipėda „Neptūnas-Akvaservis“)
- Tauris Aliukonis (Tornado Basketball School, Jonava „Hipocredit“)
- Ignas Štombergas (Kaunas BC „Žalgiris“ Academy, Kaunas „Žalgiris-2“)
- Gabrielius Krivas (Šiauliai BC „Saulė-ŠSG“ Academy)
- Benas Biržinis (Capital Basketball School, Vilnius „Rytas-MRU“)
- Gabrielius Buivydas (Vilnius Basketball School, Vilnius „Rytas-MRU“)
