Though Team Lithuania suffered an unexpected and defeat at home in the final game of the FIBA U16 European Championship Men on Sunday, the country at least received some good news from off the court.
FIBA Europe President George Vassilakopoulos held a press conference prior to the game along with secretary-general of the Lithuanian state department of sport Algirdas Raslanas, Lithuanian Basketball Federation president Vladas Garastas, and Kaunas mayor Andrius Kupcinskas, in which he praised the country for its infrastructural preparations for the EuroBasket 2011 tournament.
Vassilakopoulos stated that he was “very impressed with the level of organization and the level of the arena,” referring to the new Kaunas arena currently under construction. “I think that Lithuania has passed their first test with great success, and I believe that this is a good signal that we will have a very well organized tournament in 2011.”
Added Vassilakopoulos: “The progress you have made in [the past year] is really something fantastic.”
