LTU – Lithuania get a thumbs-down from Songaila

DALLAS (2010 FIBA World Championship) –Lithuania’s basketball federation hasn’t given up hope that some of the veterans may rejoin the team ahead of the FIBA World Championship.

One of those is Darius Songaila, who missed the last couple of summers with the national team.

On his trip to the United States over the weekend, where he was on hand for the NBA All-Star Game, Lithuanian Basketball Federation’s secretary general Mindaugas Balciunas met with Songaila but did not get the answer he was hoping for regarding this year’s big event in Turkey.

"We talked about the Lithuanian national team affairs,” Balciunas said.

“Darius said that he would not play at the World Championship this year, but in the future he does not exclude slipping on the Lithuanian national team shirt again. However, no specific promises have been made.”

A forward with the New Orleans Hornets, Songaila was set to play at the Beijing Olympics but had to withdraw from the side with a back injury and he also did not play at the EuroBasket in Poland last year.

Songaila was one of the big stories at the 2000 Olympics, while still a college player at Wake Forest.

He played an instrumental role in the Baltic team’s bronze-medal triumph.

With Lithuania receiving a wild card to play at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Balciunas is eager to have the strongest squad available for new coach Kestutis Kemzura.

Potential youngsters that could enter the frame this summer, or next when Lithuania host EuroBasket 2011, are 17-year-old center Jonas Valanciunas of Lietuvos Rytas and Benetton Treviso’s 19-year-old power forward/center, Donatas Motiejunas.

FIBA