The Lithuanian men’s basketball team will start its preparation with a few friendly games before the Olympic qualifying basketball tournament. Olympic qualifiers tournament will take place from June 29 to July 4 in Kaunas, at „Žalgiris” arena.
Before the main tournament, Lithuanians will play three friendly games with other teams, which are also preparing for similar tournaments in other countries.
On June 18th and 24th, Lithuania will play against the Dominican Republic team, and on June 22nd, Lithuanians will meet with the Russian national team. All matches will take place at „Žalgiris” arena, at 19:30 and will be broadcast live on TV3 TV.
„The first players who finish their season earlier will practise according to the individual program, and we plan to start the training camp on June 12-16. However, the exact date when all the players will gather will only become clear when they will finish their seasons. Be that as it may, the initial plans are set, the list of candidates has also been almost refined, and the opponents for the friendly games have also been approved.
There is no big choice here, since many things are limited due to a pandemic, with some teams wanting to prepare at home or in a country, where they will compete for the right to play in the Tokyo Olympics. But we are happy with the current schedule and the opponents because friendly games are necessary. We will try to extract as much benefit as possible from them”, – said the head coach of the Lithuanian men’s basketball team Darius Maskoliūnas.
The Lithuanian men’s basketball team should start preparing for the qualifying tournament on June 12-16, when the players finish their seasons. The coaches are planing to invite 14-16 candidates to the national team training camp in Kaunas.
Lithuanians will start the Olympic qualifying basketball tournament with a match against the Venezuelan team on June 29th, and a game against South Korean national team will take place on July 1st. Group B includes Slovenia, Poland and Angola. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals.
„Currently, all tickets purchased by fans for the Olympic qualifying basketball tournament are valid, but the decision on whether fans will still be able to watch the match in the arena will depend on the decisions of the Government. If the tournament took place today, there could only be 150 spectators in the arena, but the federation is making every effort to make fans who have already purchased tickets feel safe and secure. We are communicating with the responsible institutions, we have presented our vision and we are waiting for the final decision”, – said Mindaugas Špokas, Secretary General of the LKF.
The Tokyo Olympics are set to take place on July 23rd – August 8th of 2021.
