This decision was announced by M. Balčiūnas, elected president in 2024, on his personal Facebook page.
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He announced that he will leave the position from Monday and hand it over to the senior vice president. However, M. Balčiūnas did not specify exactly to whom. There are seven vice presidents in ALK: Remigijus Milašius, Šarūnas Kliokys, Rolandas Skaisgirys, Rimantas Cibauskas, Alina Adomaitytė, Tomas Pačėsas, and Gedvydas Vainauskas.
We present the full statement of M. Balčiūnas:
“Dear Colleagues, members of the Lithuanian basketball community,
I must admit that with public aggression reaching a level that is difficult to tolerate both in my personal environment and in the overall situation of Lithuanian basketball, and is hard to predict, I believe I must take action to reduce public tension, therefore on Monday I will suspend and transfer my powers as the head of the association “Lithuanian Basketball” to the senior vice president, as provided by the organization’s statutes.
I believe this decision will help calm public emotions, peacefully resolve the arising problems, and allow the basketball community to refocus on the main goal of Lithuanian basketball – victories on the basketball courts.
The financial and organizational current year activity plan will be handed over to the members of the Executive Committee.
Thank you all for the opportunities and joint work over the past years.
I firmly believe in a bright future for Lithuanian basketball.”
We remind that M. Balčiūnas’s position has been shaky in recent months.
Initially – after the Lithuanian men’s basketball team’s losses in the World Championship qualifiers, which pushed our national team to the brink and seriously balanced on the threshold of missing the world championships.
Moreover, nearly 20 country basketball players did not arrive for the last team “window,” and behind the scenes, it is said that the main reasons are poor preparation and training process of the team.
Coach Rimas Kurtinaitis, whom M. Balčiūnas appointed just after becoming president two years ago, submitted his resignation in July, but as no strategist agreed to take over the team, M. Balčiūnas asked R. Kurtinaitis to stay, and he did so.
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However, M. Balčiūnas was even more harmed by the verdict announced by FIBA a week ago against Rimantas Grigas. The former coach of the Lithuanian women’s team was accused of inappropriate behavior towards players, and after a year and a half of investigation, FIBA imposed a five-year disqualification and a fine of 12,700 euros.
“Lithuanian Basketball” received much criticism for their own investigation regarding R. Grigas, which lasted only three days in February 2025 and found no signs of sexual harassment. At that time, the coach, who resigned voluntarily, was only given a warning.
After the FIBA verdict was announced, M. Balčiūnas “regretted” it but at the same time defended himself, claiming the investigation actually lasted longer than three days, although the facts say otherwise.
Finally, ALK vice president A. Adomaitytė, who participated in the investigation, stated that the investigation was “not serious,” and also Alvydas Jocys, who was on the investigation commission, a former head of the Lithuanian Women’s Basketball League and father of one of the country’s best players Justė Jocytė, expressed doubts in an interview with the portal “Delfi” whether they were provided with unedited player testimonies about R. Grigas’s behavior during the investigation.
M. Balčiūnas joined the then Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF) activities back in 2007 when he started assisting the then LKF president Vladas Garastas. Later, he served as general secretary until 2013 when he left after a conflict with LKF president Arvydas Sabonis and then team head coach Jonas Kazlauskas.
M. Balčiūnas returned to LKF in 2021 when Vydas Gedvilas won the LKF presidential elections, and he again became general secretary and, according to many, the real head of the federation. In 2024, he himself participated in the elections, defeating Robertas Javtokas 84:63 and was elected president of LKF, soon renamed ALK.
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