LTU – Sabonis the new man in charge

VILNIUS (LKF) - Lithuania’s Arvydas Sabonis captured the hearts and admiration of all basketball fans when he played the game in international competition and with great clubs all over the world. Now he will be trying to use his considerable fame and leadership ability as the new president of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF).

There is no player in the Baltics to have enjoyed a higher profile in the game than the great Sabonis, who has three Olympic medals to his name.

"It will be a pleasure to dedicate myself to the promotion of basketball, improve the finance and specify the rules,” the 46-year-old said.

"We also have to focus attention on women's basketball and persuade the young coaches to remain in Lithuania."

A gold medallist with the USSR in Seoul in 1988, Sabonis returned to the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, where he would represent newly independent Lithuania carrying the small country of just over 3.4 million inhabitants to a bronze medal.

Victory over the CIS team - the team composed of former USSR states - for a podium finish is considered one of the founding seminal moments of modern Lithuanian basketball.

Four years later in Atlanta, Sabonis recorded six double-doubles in eight games on the way to a second consecutive Olympic bronze medal.

Retiring from the National Team in 1999, he would go on to play professionally for a further six years before retiring at the age of 38.

More recently, Sabonis has dedicated himself to the improvement of Lithuanian basketball off the court. He runs a basketball academy in his home city of Kaunas and this year acted as the EuroBasket ambassador.

Lithuania served as hosts for the event that served as a qualifier for the London Games.

Sabonis is also President of Zalgiris Kaunas Basketball Club, but has announced he will step down following his election at the head of the LKF.

He will now turn his attention to helping basketball remain the number one sport in his country, but also by helping it grow in Europe and around the world.

A member of the FIBA Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Sabonis was the only candidate for the LKF presidency.

FIBA