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After a rather long break, I am pleased to greet youagain!We are half way through a year that has beenexceptional for our nation. This year, Lithuania iscelebrating the millennium of the first mention of Lithuania’s name and Vilnius has the great honour of being a European Capital of Culture 2009.The sports community, of course, has not been onthe sidelines of such significant events. During thesports events we organise, we also inform the rest of the world about the events important to our country.And, despite the global economic crises, the firsthalf of the year was not short of sports events eitherin Lithuania or elsewhere in the world. Lithuaniahosted the European Wrestling Championship andMen’s World Ice Hockey Championship Division IGroup A. Soon, on July 16–19, the best young track and field athletes will come to Kaunas for the U23European Track and Field Championship and onAugust 6–16, young basketball players will test theirabilities in the same city at the European Men’s JuniorBasketball Championship, which will be goodtraining prior to hosting the 2011 Men’s EuropeanBasketball Championship.Sports fans have participated in traditional sportsevents, two of which deserve special mention. Theseare the Olympic Festival of LithuanianSchoolchildren, organised during the school year forthe past 4 years and gaining scale, and the WorldLithuanian Sports Games, organised in Lithuania aftera break of 4 years. We represent a small nation andeach Lithuanian is of great importance to us.Therefore, the games that bring together Lithuaniansscattered across the world have become yet anotherhighlight in the festive programme dedicated to themillennium celebrations and the programme of theEuropean Capital of Culture 2009. Both sports eventsare covered more widely in this issue of thenewsletter. You will find descriptions of these events,information about the key victories of our athletes atworld competitions, and other news from Lithuaniain this issue of the newsletter.
 Interesting reading and a joyfuland sporty summer!
Sincerely yours,
Algirdas Raslanas
General Director, Departmentof Physical Education and Sportsunder the Governmentof the Republic of Lithuania
NEWSLETTER
In Celebration of the Millennium!
8 
th 
World Lithuanian Sports Games “Lithuania in Sports”— reflections of Lithuanian sport in photographs 
No
4
2009
   P   h  o   t  o   b  y   V  a   l   d  a  s   M  a   l   i  n  a  u  s   k  a  s .
 
On June 25–28, the 8
th
World LithuanianSports Games, dedicated to thecommemoration of the millennium of the firstmention of Lithuania’s name and the occasionof Vilnius being the European Capital of Culture 2009, took place in Vilnius. Thegames—the main idea of which is to uniteLithuanians scattered across the world—havetheir established traditions and were firstorganised by Canadian Lithuanians in Toronto,Canada in 1978.Around 500 Lithuanians from 16 countries of the world—the U.S.A., Canada, Australia,Belarus, Russia, Latvia, Poland, Estonia, GreatBritain, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Spain,Finland, Sweden, and Argentina—attended the8
th
World Lithuanian Sports Games. The largestdelegation, 97 athletes, came from the U.S.A.,95 athletes of Lithuanian origin representedCanada, and 70 came from Australia. Lithuaniawas represented by 2,500 sports amateurs.June 27 was the main day of the games, whenthe competitions of a majority of the branchesof sport and festive events of the games took place. These included mass at VilniusCathedral, where the flag of the 8
th
WorldLithuanian Sports Games was consecrated.Then there was a colourful parade of theparticipants of the games through the streets of Vilnius. The opening ceremony of the gameswas held in Kalnu Park in Vilnius. The flameof the games in Kalnu Park was lit by DainaGudzineviciute, the Olympic champion in rifleshooting, from the torch carried by Lithuanianrunners through all the historical capitals of 
Sport Unites LithuaniansScattered across World
Events
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4 / 20094 / 20094 / 20094 / 20094 / 2009
2
 An oak tree for the millennium of Lithuania to commemorateworld Lithuanian sports is planted by (from left to right) Algirdas Raslanas, Director General of the Department of Physical Education and Sports, Antanas Laukaitis,representative of the Union of Physical Education of  Australian Lithuanians, and Arturas Poviliunas, President of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee.
Delegation of Lithuanians fromabroad.
The march of the delegations participating in the gamesthrough the streets of Vilnius.The Lithuanian flag iscarried by Olympicbasketball champion Modestas Paulauskas.The flame of the games waslit in KalnuPark in Vilniusby Olympicchampion DainaGudzineviciute.
 
Lithuania—Kaunas, Kernave, and Trakai.When the national anthem of Lithuania wasplayed, the flag of Lithuania and of the gameswere raised. Participants in the 8
th
WorldLithuanian Sports Games were greeted byPresident Valdas Adamkus. “The tradition of the games has been maintained far outside theborders of Lithuania, from Toronto all the wayto Adelaide, and finally returned to Lithuania. Iam grateful for the significant work carried outin the local communities and the disseminationof the principles of respect, tolerance, justice,and tolerance. These values accompanied us onour way to the freedom of Lithuania; theyinspire athletes, bring joy to numerous sportsfans, and pave the way to Lithuania’s future”,the president said. Before the games, sportsofficials and representatives of Lithuaniancommunities abroad planted an oak tree nearthe Department of Physical Education andSports. The tree was dedicated to themillennium of Lithuania and is meant toremind people of this sports tradition of Lithuanians across the world.During the 3 days of competition,participants in the games took part in thecompetitions of 25 branches of sport. The mostpopular sport was basketball, which wasplayed by 35 teams of men and women of various age groups.
Photos by Valdas Malinauskas.
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4 / 20094 / 20094 / 20094 / 20094 / 2009
3
Events
World Lithuanians aregreeted by LithuanianPresident Valdas Adamkus. Basketball was the most popular sport at the 8
th
World Lithuanian Sports Games and the one that caused the most emotions. In this photograph—amatch between the team from Trakai, Lithuania(dressed in yellow) and Canadian Lithuanians.Patriotism has no limits. The left leg of this Lithuanian American is decorated with the emblem of Vilnius and hisright leg is adorned with the national emblem of Lithuania.
Sport fishing fans settle on the bank of the river Neris.
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