LTU - Jasaitis recovering from knee-op

VILNIUS (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - Injuries deprived Lithuania of Linas Kleiza and Jonas Maciulis at EuroBasket 2011 and now the Baltic giants have a big concern over Simas Jasaitis ahead of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Venezuela.

The 29-year-old, who is on the books of Turk Telekom, has hit the sidelines for a couple of months after having an operation on his knee.

"My leg hurt," Jasaitis said.

"I came back to Lithuania for the holidays and had a small check up with the doctors, who said that I had to have surgery on the meniscus."

Jasaitis averaged 7.6 points and five rebounds per game for Lithuania to help them capture a bronze medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

He averaged 8.9 points and 5.2 rebounds last summer at the EuroBasket, drilling 17 of his 36 shots from long range.

Since gaining independence from the former Soviet Union, Lithuania have played at every Olympics.

They competed in Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008).

Jasaitis played in Beijing and buried 13 of 30 shots from long range while averaging 8.8 points.

Lithuania, Russia, FYR of Macedonia, Greece, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, hosts Venezuela, Jordan, Korea, Angola, Nigeria and New Zealand will play at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2 July to 8 July in Caracas.

Three teams will advance to the London Games.

FIBA