10 European countries participated in the international basketball tournament „beactive Kaunas cup 2019“

2019 rugsėjis 30 d., pirmadienis

​​The sixth international youth basketball tournament #beactive Kaunas Cup 2019 took place in Kaunas on 27-29 of September. 26 teams from 10 European countries participated in one of the most massive basketball tournament in Lithuania. This year we had guests from Great Britain – team Baltic Stars BS. The most of players in this team Lithuanian, born in aborad. So, they could not only play basketball but also meet relatives, remaining in Lithuania. Also participated champions and medalists of Russia and Belarusian – Moscow Trinta, Minsk Tsmoki, Grodno BK,  medalists of Latvian championship – Adazi BK, also Tukuma SS, Salaspils SS, Ogre BS. Champions of Czech Republic – BK NH Ostrava, Berlin U12 vice-champions DBV Charlottenburg from Germany, as well as Danish Horsens IC, Celeritas – Donar from Netherlands and Swedish Akersberg Basket. Foreigners greatly admire the Lithuanian Basketball School and are happy to have the opportunity to participate in such a basketball tournament.

12 teams participated in the group of boys born in 2007. They all were separated into 4 different subgroups. After subgroup games, 2 strongest teams went to playoffs, another left to play for 9 – 12 places in using the round system.  In the quarter-finals, all four Lithuanian teams - Marijampolė ŽSM, Vilnius KM, Perkūnas KM and Tornado KM beaten their opponents from abroad and traveled to the semi-finals to fight for medals. In the first semi-final, eternal rivals Tornado KM and Kaunas KM “Perkūnas” met. „Perkūnas „ KM team was stronger and won their place in the finals the second pair, the players of Vilnius KM beaten Marijampolė ŽSM players after a very fierce fight. On the last day of the tournament, after guests from foreign played games for 9 – 12 and 5 – 8 places, a real hell broke out among Lithuanians. Tornado KM team from the first minute was ready to win the bronze game and won after the first quarter won against Marijampolės ŽSM 21:9. The Marijampolė ŽSM did not intend to surrender and began to reduce that gap between teams. Till the end of the game they to erupted forward and celebrated the bronze victory with a score 65:58. An even bigger "hell" on the court was during the final game between Kauno KM „Perkūnas“ and Vilniaus KM. It was not enough main time of the game to clarify who will be champions so teams had to play overtime. Players of Kauno KM „Perkūnas“shot a few three-point shoots and doors to win the gold medals for the Vilnius team was closed. The champions and prize-winners of the tournament were awarded by brothers Darjuš and Kšyštof Lavrinovič.

"I think the tournament was a real success and even though it was dominated by teams from Lithuania, I think it was helpful and gave the guests a lot of emotion, -  said Tornado KM coach Tomas Rakauskas after the #beactive Kaunas Cup 2019. – Talking about our team, we ended the tournament in the fourth place and it means that we lost two last games. Up until the semi-finals we played with foreign teams and I would say we looked pretty good, but when we met with Lithuanian teams of higher skill we had a lot of shortcomings that we still have time to fix before the start of MKL Championship. ”

Xiaomi symbolic five players:

M. Matulevičius (Baltic Stars BC, GBR)

D. Jasiukaitis (Tornado KM, LTU)

G. Bubnys (Marijampolės ŽSM, LTU)

G. Mažeikis (Vilniaus KM, LTU)

D. Grunkis (KM „Perkūnas“ LTU)

The winners  of three – point shoot contest M. Matulevičius (Baltic Stars BC, GBR),  E. Zicitis (Salaspils SS) and Ą. Steputis (Tornado KM – „Xiaomi“, LTU).

All the winners were awarded by cups, medals and prizes established by Xiomi Lietuva and „Tornado“ basketball school.

Video from tournament: 

September 27th ⇒ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hl54jR9CsE&feature=youtu.be

September 28th ⇒ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AemvzBe97GE&feature=youtu.be

RSeptember 29th ⇒ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOO3VnR8b0k&feature=youtu.be

Final standings of group 2007

8 teams participated in the group of boys born in 2005. 5 teams were guests from foreign, 3 – Lithuanians. All the teams were split into 2 subgroups. They played round system and two strongest teams from each subgroup went to playoffs. Latvian teams Salaspils SS played against V. Knašiaus KM. Guests from Klaipėda won against Latvians and took their ticket to the final. Tornado KM „Alburnus“ was defeated by Kauno KM „Žalgiris“ players in the second semifinal. In the bronze game, hosts of tournament Tornado KM – „Alburnus“ easily beaten guests Salaspils SS team. After two quarters Tornado KM team had 16 points advantage. Players from Latvia tried to reduce that gap but their efforts were unsuccessful. The winners of third place became Tornado KM – „Alburnus“.  Tough fight from the beginning till the end was in the final game. After two quarters Žalgiris KM players had a little advantage, but then V. Knašius KM team played a very good third quarter and caught up with an opponent and started last quarter one step forward. However, players of Žalgiris KM were not willing to give away gold medals. They played the better end of the game and became champions of group 2005.

„This tournament is a very good test before an upcoming season of Lithuanian championship, - said coach of Tornado KM – „Alburnus“ Šarūnas Zablockis. - I think not only us, but also other teams could see what works on offense, what on defense. We all had a bunch of good matches, so I'm really happy with the tournament. ”

 Xiaomi symbolic five players:

A. Užpalis (Kauno KM „Žalgiris“, LTU)

J. Žiburys (V. Knašiaus KM, LTU)

E. Baltrimavičius (Tornado KM – „Alburnus“, LTU)

V. Pastors (Salaspils SS, LAT), 

O. Siphens (Celeritas – Donar, NYD)

The winners  of three – point shoot contest J. Žiburys (V. Knašiaus KM) and J. Riškus (Tornado KM – „Alburnus“).

All the winners were awarded by cups, medals, and prizes established by Xiomi Lietuva and „Tornado“ basketball school.

Video from tournament: 

September 27th ⇒ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbKFcYFWPuI&feature=youtu.be

September 29th ⇒ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX3XU8uxvRA&feature=youtu.be

Final standings of group 2005

Six teams participated in the group of boys born in 2003. Three teams from Lithuania and three teams from foreign countries played in the round system. All three Lithuanian teams were too strong for foreigners and shared three first places. Vilniaus KM – Hoover didn‘t suffer any defeats and became the champions. Second place won Kauno KM „Žalgiris“  that lost only one game against champions. Tornado KM – „Sharp“ lost both games against gold and silver medalists and won third place in this age group. Three teams from foreign won for one victory each and shared fourth – sixth places by summing up the points scored and missed.

Tornado KM - Sharp coach Tom Kentra also agreed with his colleagues: “First of all, I want to congratulate our players on winning the medal in the international tournament. This tournament was a great preparation for MKL championship. The team has shown character, played very good, some sections were played very mature. I am happy with the individual progress of the players, as well as the team actions and the improvement of the decisions. The start of the season is not uphill and that's why the guys' dedication is optimistic. "

Xiaomi symbolic five players:

C. Chizhikov (Trinta BS, RUS) 

V. Briedis (Adaži BK, LAT)

R. Mankus (Tornado KM – „Sharp“, LTU)

R. Kabašinskas (KM „Žalgiris“, LTU)

V. Adomaitis (Vilniaus KM – „Hoover“, LTU).

The winners  of three – point shoot contest  B. Ališauskas (Tornado KM – „Sharp“) and  K. Kupriaščenko (Vilniaus KM – „Hoover“)

Video from tournament: 

September 28th ⇒ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbFTfALBBl4&feature=youtu.be

Final standings of group 2003

“We are happy that the tournament has gone great! – said Dainius Čiuprinskas, the director of Tornado Basketball School. - Like every year, this year was a great opportunity for teams to get ready for the upcoming official basketball season, for coaches to gain new experiences and connections, and for kids to get to know the subtleties of other countries' basketball. The tournament was co-funded by the Kaunas City Municipality's "Initiatives to Kaunas", and we are grateful to them and #beactive, as well as Xiaomi Lietuva for their established gifts to Symbolic Five players, parents and the entire Tornado KM team for help during the tournament. Thanks to all of you, we have received even more positive feedback and we believe that with each passing year the tournament will continue to grow and the name will ring louder and attract more basketball teams from all over Europe to Kaunas. ”