In Klaipėda, the composition of the national team of Lithuanian archers was revealed

This weekend, archers competed in the Vygantas Juozapaitis Memorial Cup in Smiltyne. During them, it became clear who made it to the national team of Lithuanian archers, which will be held in the European Archery Championship in June.

Will travel to Germany

After the second qualifying round, after summing up the results of the two rounds, the composition of the Lithuanian national team became clear: women’s and men’s teams shooting Olympic hoops, and the men’s team shooting pulley hoops.

Juliana Semionova from Vilnius, Paulina Ramanauskaitė and Inga Timinskienė from Alytus entered the women’s team. Men’s team members: Modestas Šliauteris from Šiauliai, Ramūnas Kašėta from Kaunas and Dovydas Bagdanavičius from Vilnius. Vladas Šigauskas from Kaunas, Remigijus Bileišis from Utena and Rolandas Baranauskas from Alytus will represent Lithuania in the pulley group.

“After comparing the geographical position of Lithuania and the country where the European Championship will be held, we do not expect very high results. The championship takes place quite early, and due to the climate, Lithuanians have very little time to prepare for outdoor competitions, – noted Gediminas Maksimavičius, president of the Lithuanian Archery Federation (LLF). – We just hope that they will show personal results. We also hope that the men’s team will reach the playoffs and have a chance to fight for medals.”

There is a lack of funds and preparation

Although LLF covers the expenses of athletes in the European and World Championships, as G. Maksimavičius noticed, the funding is not sufficient. “There are not enough funds to organize educational sports camps. Therefore, it is difficult for Lithuanian athletes to match foreigners,” the LLF president lamented.

M. Šliauteris, who made it to the national team, also noticed the lack of preparation. “Preparation is lacking all the time. Like before the exam – one day or several weeks are missing. More training means better results. And when you do it unprofessionally, after work, it is as it is, said the Šiauliai resident. – You need conditions, training, a coach, which I don’t even have. I train by myself, my father, a former coach, helps me a little. There is no specificity. Most of the time, you learn by yourself, you do everything yourself, you train others yourself.”

J. Semionova has already participated in five European and World Championships, but she does not expect high results in Germany, as she had a long break in outdoor competitions. “I haven’t shot for four years. I’m just starting the outdoor season. I don’t have big goals, I just aim to cope psychologically in the qualification,” the athlete mentioned.

In her opinion, the athletes who achieved good results got into the Lithuanian national team, so in Munich in June, both the pulley and Olympic hoop teams have a chance to enter the top twenty or even ten of the best athletes in the European Championship qualifiers.

Competition results

In the V. Juozapaitis Memorial Cup competition, half a dozen athletes competed in the Olympic, simple and pulley hoop categories.

Modests Šliauteris (“Golden Shooter”) won in the men’s group of Olympic hoops. The second place went to Vidmantas Vaičekauskis from the Klaipėda Archery Club, and the third place to Ramūnas Kašėtas (Kaunas Sports Association).

Juliana Semionova (Vilnius archers’ sports club) won the gold medal in the women’s group. The silver and bronze medals went to the Alytus club ASRC-Zaliasis lankas: Paulina Ramanauskaitė took the second place, Inga Timinskienė took the third place.

Vladas Šigauskas (Kaunas Sports Association) was invincible in the pulley hoops category. Remigijus Bileišis (Utena Archery Club) came in second place. In the third – Ugnius Timinskas (“Green Bow”).

Rimantas Šuliokas (Kaunas archers) won the first place in the men’s archery category. Silver and bronze medals were shared by the members of the Klaipėda archery club: the silver went to the oldest participant – 85 years old – Boris Melnikov, and the bronze to Dominyks Andrulis.

In the women’s category, athletes from Marijampole sports club “Ugnine strėlė” shared the prizes: Aistė Stagniūnaitė won gold, and her colleague Halina Radvilienė – silver.

Where will the competition be held next year?

The commemorative competition of the distinguished coach V. Juozapaitis was usually held in his hometown – Šiauliai. However, when the people from Šiauliai faced difficulties, the people from Klaipėda took over the burden of organizing the competition.

Romualdas Grinkevičius, the shooting manager of this year’s competition, together with his wife, used to hold them in his own homestead, but decided to sell it. “We don’t lose our legs anymore. And after all, you need to prepare the square, to receive people. It’s already too difficult for us,” said the former coach, a sports veteran.

“We no longer have a place for competitions. If there is an opportunity, the competition will return to Šiauliai, but for now we don’t have a place to hold it,” said M. Šliauteris, a member of the Šiauliai archery club “Auksinis šaulys”. This year, the people of Šiauliai got a new training place, but it is not yet clear how it will be possible to train there.

M. Šliauteris hopes to warm his feet in a new place and maybe organize the competition again in Šiauliai in a couple of years, but R. Grinkevičius spoke less optimistically: “I don’t know if it will be possible to organize this competition in Šiauliai. The city government doesn’t care about archery at all. There aren’t even proper conditions for training.”

Klaipėda archery club information