K. Verbliugevičius will play his first match on Tuesday, August 25, no earlier than 11:30 AM. On the 17th court of the “SEB arena,” his opponent will be S. Haxellas. Later in the afternoon, the Lithuanian will also meet P. Malicki on the 18th court. The exact time of the second match will depend on the duration of the previous matches.
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A total of 22 athletes will participate in the B1 men’s competition, divided by draw into seven groups. The two strongest tennis players from each group will advance to the knockout stage.
B1 players face an intense day
In the B1 men’s competition, Lithuania will be represented by Justas Pažarauskas and Gražvydas Butrimas, in addition to K. Verbliugevičius.
J. Pažarauskas was placed in Group G, which also includes Japanese Harufumi Shiozawa, German Lars Stetten, and Pole Sławomiras Tolak-Ciszewskis. On the first day of the championship, the Lithuanian will also face two matches. First, around 10 AM on the 18th court, he will meet H. Shiozawa, and later on the 17th court, he will face L. Stetten. Both matches will start after the scheduled matches before them have finished.
G. Butrimas in Group F will compete against Finn Pekka Rantanen and German Bernd Wiebe. On the first day of the championship, the Lithuanian will meet P. Rantanen on the 19th court no earlier than 2 PM.
In the B1 women’s Group C, Oksana Dobrovolskaja’s opponents will be German Kirstin Linck, Pole Monika Dubiel, and Brit Tracy Compton. O. Dobrovolskaja’s first match is scheduled for Tuesday no earlier than 11:30 AM on the 19th court. She will face K. Linck.
In other categories
A large group of Lithuanian athletes will also compete in other vision categories. In the B2 men’s Group A, Vytautas Ališauskas will play against Australian Oliver Fanshawe, Argentine Maximiliano Javier Diaz, and Irish Vincent Keane.
Mindaugas Triušis’s opponents in the B2 men’s Group B are Italian Davide Viglianti, Australian David Gordon, and Pole Michał Orchowski, while Karolis Tupalskis in Group C will face Australian Ethan Cook, Pole Marian Wywiórski, and Indian representative Anoop Chandar RG. Saulius Leonavčius’s opponents in Group D are Australian Mark Haskett, Luxembourger Nicolas Berodt, and Pole Emil Stopierzyński.
In the B2 women’s Group A, Aušra Rimelkytė will face Luxembourg representative Liz Conzemius and German Dana Granowski.
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In the B3 men’s competition, Vilmantas Balčikonis’s opponents are Italian Luca Peruzzo, Spaniard Álvaro Azofra de Rivas, and Pole Tomasz Błoński. Denas Damskis was placed in the five-athlete Group D, which also includes representatives from Spain, Poland, and Australia.
In the B3 women’s competition, Živilė Karoblienė in Group A will play against German Charlotte Schwagmeier and Pole Małgorzata Ignasiak. Indrė Zuzevičiūtė-Praškevičienė in Group C will face Pole Aleksandra Karakula, Australian Leah Glassenbury, and Brit Louise Evans. Vaida Litinskaitė’s opponents in Group D will be Brit Andrea Logan, French Delphine Deschamps, and Finn Riita Tienhaara.
The championship was opened with a parade
The draw concluded the first official day of the world championship in Vilnius. On Monday, team training sessions took place all day at the “SEB arena,” and at 5 PM an official opening ceremony was held on the central court. Athletes, coaches, and delegation representatives participated.
The first to address his peers and future opponents was K. Verbliugevičius. Later, the championship participants were greeted by the Speaker of the Seimas Juozas Olekas, Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas, Lithuanian Tennis Union President Ramūnas Grušas, the best Lithuanian tennis player of all time Ričardas Berankis, and championship director Aidas Danilovas.
After the welcoming speeches, a festive parade was held – all delegations participating in the championship were introduced and gathered on the central court of the “SEB arena.” Among the largest in Vilnius were the Polish and Australian delegations, each with nearly two dozen people, and, of course, the host Lithuanian team.
The first matches – on Tuesday
The first world championship matches at the “SEB arena” began on August 25 at 9 AM.
The competition takes place in B1, B2, B3, and B4 vision categories.
The championship matches can also be watched live.
The IBTA Blind Tennis World Championship matches in Vilnius take place from August 24-29. The finals will be played on Saturday, August 29. Admission for spectators to all championship matches is free.
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