The Lithuanian men’s national basketball team suffered the worst possible scenario at the Olympic qualifying tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico – having reached the final, the Lithuanians fell to Puerto Rico 68:79 and will miss the Olympic Games for the second time in a row.
The Lithuanian national basketball team did not play in the 2020 Tokyo Games. That time, the team failed to qualify for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Kaunas, Lithuania, where it lost to Slovenia in the final. Until then, the Lithuanian men’s basketball team had never missed an Olympic tournament.
In San Juan, the Lithuanians started with victories over Mexico (96:84) and Ivory Coast (97:93). Then the Lithuanians, who finished first in their group, defeated the Italians in the semi-finals (88:64).
This was the fourth match between Lithuania and Puerto Rico on basketball courts. The Lithuanian national team had played three official games with Puerto Rico until then and won all of them. The last time the two teams played each other was in 2012, also in the Olympic qualifiers, when the Lithuanians won 76:72.
The Puerto Rico national basketball team will return to the Olympic Games after a 20-year absence. The last time a Puerto Rican basketball team played in the Olympic Games was in 2004. This time, Puerto Rico will play in Group C in Paris alongside South Sudan, the USA, and Serbia.
“Looking at the whole tournament, we played one very good game, but that is not enough to qualify for the Games,” commented the Lithuanian team’s head coach Kazys Maksvytis after the match.
The loss is “a huge blow” to Lithuanian basketball, he added. “At the last Games, I thought they were incomplete without basketball, and it’s a pity that the same thing happened this time,” said Maksvytis.
He became the head coach of the men’s basketball team after replacing Darius Maskoliūnas in 2021 following the team’s poor performance in the Olympic qualifiers. Asked if the failure in Puerto Rico will lead to his resignation, Maksvytis said: “I’ve already made the decision, but I first need to inform the federation.”
Mindaugas Kuzminskas, the team captain, did not hide his disappointment: “It is extremely painful. [Playing in the Olympics] is every athlete’s dream every four years. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to repeat that dream.”
One of the team leaders, Domantas Sabonis, said that the Lithuanians just couldn’t control the game, but thanked the fans. “It is a pity. Our goal was to qualify for Paris, but as the coach said, it was not good basketball. We only played one good game. That’s not enough to qualify for the Olympics,” said Sabonis.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
