Lithuanian Basketball Gets Millions Despite Long Medal Drought

Lithuanian basketball continues to receive the country’s largest sports allocation despite a long medal drought, prompting some residents to question whether Lithuania can still call itself a basketball nation.

The men’s national team last returned home to a major public celebration nearly 11 years ago, after winning silver at the 2015 European Championship. Since then, Lithuania’s senior men have not reached a medal podium. Their results have also been difficult this year, yet basketball remains the sport receiving the most state funding.

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We believe in the community of every sport. There are statutes for non-governmental organizations, voting and so on. On this issue, we need to draw a clear line between an organization’s autonomy and how much the government contributes to its funding.

The government distributed about 20 million euros to sports federations this year through high-performance programs. The association Lietuvos krepšinis received almost 3 million euros, well ahead of swimming and athletics, sports that continue to bring medals to Lithuania.

Funding is not based solely on medals, officials said. Aleksandr Rybakov of the National Sports Agency listed three main criteria: results, exceptional athletes, mass participation and management indicators. Results account for about 80 percent of the allocation, calculated over the previous four years.

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There are three main criteria. They are results, exceptional athletes, mass participation and management indicators. Results make up the largest share, about 80 percent of funding. We look at the last four years.

Basketball’s recent successes have mainly come from three-on-three teams and youth squads, although they too have struggled to challenge for top places this year. Rybakov said last year’s fifth-place finish at the European Championship, the Paris Olympics and the youth national teams also count in the assessment. That means basketball funding could fall sharply next year.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport said the association is responsible for the sport’s results, while the government cannot control them. Deputy minister Giedrius Grybauskas also defended the principle of organizational autonomy, saying Lithuania should not follow systems in which authorities remove sports leaders because they dislike them.

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Fifth place at last year’s European Championship is also a sufficiently high result. We should not forget the other national teams, including three-on-three basketball. We are still counting the Paris Olympics, as well as the youth national teams.