Lithuanian national team coaches named final 12 man roster for the Olympic qualifiers tournament (OQT), that will kick off on Tuesday in Kaunas.
Before the start of the official tournament, head coach of the national team Darius Maskoliūnas had to say goodbye to two players – Tadas Sedekerskis and Regimantas Miniotas.
„In regards of Tadas, he somehow had a hard time adapting to our defensive schemes. We simply could not find him a suitable position. As of today, we do not see him as an offensive threat that could benefit us a lot.
Speaking about MIniotas, he was behind the initial 15 man candidate list, due to certain circumstances we invited him later. He looked alright in the preparation games, but we had to choose and we decided to pick another player. We think that way it will be more beneficial for the team”, – said Darius Maskoliūnas.
Lithuanian national basketball team roster:
Guards: Mantas Kalnietis, Rokas Jokubaitis, Lukas Lekavičius, Marius Grigonis, Rokas Giedraitis, Tomas Dimša
Forwards: Mindaugas Kuzminskas, Arnas Butkevičius, Eimantas Bendžius, Gytis Masiulis
Centers: Jonas Valančiūnas, Domantas Sabonis
Lithuanians will play their first official game in the OQT on Tuesday (June 29th) at 7.30 pm. against Venezuela. The second group stage game will take place on Thursday (July 1) at 7.30 pm. against South Korean national team.
The national teams of Slovenia, Poland and Angola will compete in group B of the OQT in Kaunas.
