The hosts of EuroBasket 2011 started their preparations for the country’s most important sporting event. Eighteen out of twenty candidates had their first training session yesterday in Druskininkai.
Two players will join the team a bit later – Rimantas Kaukenas is expected to arrive today while Sarunas Jasikevicius should join the team in a week after agreeing with coach Kestutis Kemzura.
Jonas Maciulis who will miss the tournament is currently in his rehabilitation process. Still, he joined the first training session.
All eyes are on the national team and understandably there were plenty of journalists buzzing around.
The team will move to Palanga next week to continue training. Lithuania’s first warm-up game will played in Klaipeda on August 4th.
Lithuanian national team’s preliminary squad:
| Player | Height | Pos | Age | Team |
| Mantas Kalnietis | 1.96 | PG | 24 | Žalgiris |
| Šarūnas Jasikevičius | 1.93 | PG | 35 | Fenerbahce Ulker |
| Tomas Delininkaitis | 1.90 | SG | 30 | Žalgiris |
| Martynas Gecevičius | 1.93 | SG | 23 | Lietuvos Rytas |
| Rimantas Kaukėnas | 1.94 | SG | 34 | Montepaschi Siena |
| Martynas Pocius | 1.96 | SG | 25 | Žalgiris |
| Renaldas Seibutis | 1.96 | SG | 26 | Lietuvos Rytas |
| Mindaugas Lukauskis | 1.98 | SG | 32 | EWE Baskets |
| Simas Jasaitis | 2.01 | SF | 29 | Turk Telekom |
| Mindaugas Kuzminskas | 2.05 | SF | 21 | Žalgiris |
| Artūras Jomantas | 2.00 | SF | 26 | Lietuvos Rytas |
| Deividas Gailius | 2.00 | SF | 23 | Virtus Bologna |
| Paulius Jankūnas | 2.06 | PF | 27 | Žalgiris |
| Donatas Motiejūnas | 2.13 | PF | 20 | Benetton Treviso |
| Kšištof Lavrinovič | 2.10 | PF | 31 | Montepaschi Siena |
| Darius Songaila | 2.06 | PF | 33 | Galatasaray |
| Marijonas Petravičius | 2.09 | C | 31 | Emporio Armani Milano |
| Darjuš Lavrinovič | 2.12 | C | 31 | CSKA Moscow |
| Robertas Javtokas | 2.11 | C | 31 | Žalgiris |
| Jonas Valančiūnas | 2.13 | C | 19 | Lietuvos Rytas |
Lithuania’s preparation games
| August 4 | Lithuania | – | Slovenia | Klaipėda, Lithuania |
| August 6 | Lithuania | – | Czech Republic | Klaipėda, Lithuania |
| August 10 | Russia | – | Lithuania | Moscow, Russia |
| August 14 | Spain | – | Lithuania | Madrid, Spain |
| August 18 | Lithuania | – | Spain | Kaunas, Lithuania |
| August 19 | Lithuania | – | Russia | Panevėžys, Lithuania |
| August 20 | Lithuania | – | Latvia | Panevėžys, Lithuania |
| August 24 | Slovenia | – | Lithuania | Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| August 27 | Lithuania | – | Georgia | Vilnius, Lithuania |
“Baltic Giants” were drawn into Group A and will face Spain, Turkey, Great Britain, Poland and second placed team from the Additional Qualifying Round (one of Portugal, Hungary and Sweden).
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