The first resounding victory and the medal brought back to Lithuania by VDU athletes was on July 15. At the European University Sports Games, the VDU foursome won third place in the 3×3 basketball sport.
In the tournament held in Debrecen, the boys, who marched unbeaten all the way to the semi-finals, were stopped by the Polytechnic University of Bucharest (Romania), but in the fight for the bronze medal, they were defeated by the University of Valencia (Spain) – 21:19.
Vytautas Magnus University basketball player Augustinas Mikštas became the second most productive player of the entire tournament with an average of 7.8 points per game, while Titas Januševičius remained in third place with an average of 7 points.
Medals were won by VDU students: Titas Januševičius, Nojus Lebskas, Gabrielius Čelka and Augustinas Mikštas. The latter also entered the symbolic top three of the tournament and became the most useful player of the tournament.
To further promote Lithuania and its name, the VDU 5×5 basketball team went to Miskolc, where the European University Games were held. The VDU athletes, who passed the group stage without defeat, looked just as solid in the playoffs. The final was reached, where the boys of coach Arūnas Juknevičius beat the University of Zagreb (Croatia) team with a score of 75:63.
Having not experienced a single defeat, VDU athletes became the champions of the European University Sports Games basketball tournament. In the final, Augustinas Mikštas led the Lithuanians to victory with 18 points, Justinas Ramanauskas added 12 points, Vitalijus added 11 points, Gabrielius Čelka scored 8 points, Adonas Sidarevičius – 7, Rokas Mačiulis – 5, Domas Uosis – 3. V. Kozys was chosen as the most useful player of the tournament top five players.
“Although the preparation stage was not easy and full of uncertainties, the solid front line formed from basketball players who have already graduated from the university was a very important part that helped the team gain confidence. I am very happy about the title, we have been very close for several years, but we kept falling short. I think this is an important achievement and recognition for the university. We are among the top five universities in terms of sports achievements, it is of course great that we can strengthen this position with basketball achievements”, said VDU team coach Arūnas Juknevičius.
“I’m happy, it was the third time in a row that we’ve reached the final, but this time we managed to become champions. Half of the team consisted of players from the Regions Basketball League (Lukas Uosis, Domas Uosis, Žygymantas Sabaliauskas, Ričardas Butkus, Irmantas Mockevičius, Dominykas Černius), so we are very happy about their development. We want to show everyone that we are a basketball country at the student level as well, and that we are able to demonstrate high results”, team manager Airidas Nutautas was happy with the victory.
Two other no less resounding achievements were recorded already in August. The Lithuanian men’s 3×3 basketball team, of which four basketball players represented, even three are VMU students, forever entered the history of Lithuanian basketball and VMU. Won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. This achievement will be remembered by Evalds Džiaugis, Aurelijas Pukelis, Šarūnas Vingelis, Gintautas Matulis and coach Dainis Novickis for the rest of their lives.
All these representatives of the Lithuanian national team, with the exception of Gintautas Matulis, have connections with VMU as former or current students. Well, and the most recent achievement on August 25. won the bronze medal of the European 3×3 Championship. All the representatives of that Lithuanian national team (Titas Januševičius, Marijus Užupis, Gabrielius Čelka, Aurelijs Pukelis, Dainius Novickas) are VMU students, thus once again promoting the success of this university in the summer.
“We are extremely happy that VDU basketball is steadily growing upwards, we can be proud of both Olympic and European prize winners, we have two teams in the Regional Basketball League, one of the best sports complexes in the entire Baltic region. All student basketball at the university is making strong progress, which we can see in this summer’s results,” said VDU team manager Airidas Nutatautas.
Although the last season was not successful, both VDU teams kept their places in the A and B divisions and have already started the preparation phase for the upcoming season. According to coach Arūnas Juknevičius, the main team of VDU, which is waiting for the start of the A division, started preparing for the upcoming season several weeks ago: “The core of the team will be all the players who have already played or trained with us. show a more solid game than last year”.
The VDU-2 team starting in the B division will be led by Rimas Sorokas, who called the upcoming start full of challenges. “We have started the preparation for the season, but it is already clear that the team will not be strengthened from last year, as a couple of players left for the NKL, and three more tall players left for the main team. We will try to create a game with smaller players,” the coach described the preparation stage.
We remind you that the start of the season is already on October 3.
2024-09-10 11:51:19