Sports in brief - 2012-05-17

May 16, 2012
By Jared Grellet

Leading Lithuanian basketball club Zalgiris Kaunas has followed up their three-peat in the Baltic Basketball League (BBL) at the end of last month by winning the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) for a second consecutive season. Whilst their biggest rival for the title, Lietuvos Rytas, has been the more noticeable team in Europe this year, the green-and-whites remain ruling the roost at home with their three-nil win in the best-of-five game finals series, extending their unbeaten run over their closest rival in all competitions to nine games. Zalgiris Kaunas dominated the series from the outset, dealing Aleksandar Dzikic’s team a mental blow with a dominant 71-56 victory in game one of the series. Traveling to Vilnius for the second game of the series, the news was not much better for the red-and-blacks on their home court as Tomas Delininkaitis provided 22 points to give Zalgiris an 86-76 win on the road and take his team within a game of the championship. Zalgiris then wrapped the series up back at home on Sunday night, leading throughout to win 90-84. It is the first time since 2006 that the LKL final has been won in a clean sweep.

Estonia’s number one tennis player Kaia Kanepi’s injuries appear to be far from over. After producing a quarter-final singles appearance and doubles finals appearance in Copenhagen, Denmark in April, and then beginning May by winning the third Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) title of her career in Estoril, Portugal, it appeared that the 26-year-old’s injury problems may finally be a thing of the past. However, two days after winning the title in Estoril, Kanepi crashed out in the opening round of the Madrid Masters and then announced she would be withdrawing from a tournament this week in Rome, citing sore Achilles tendons – something that is not affecting her for the first time. Kanepi’s personal Web site, kaiakanepi.com, quoted the athlete as saying, “The Achilles tendons are my weak spot. They become tender if I over-exert myself. It is not too bad. This week I will be doing general fitness training, riding a bike, and resting. I will resume tennis practice next week. I am going to miss the tournament in Rome, but I will still be playing in Brussels.” The world no. 25 has had a documented history of injuries of late, having already spent extended time on the sidelines with a shoulder injury and an earlier Achilles problem.

The Estonian men’s cricket team have claimed maximum points from the opening round of the 2012 Baltic Cup, with two wins in the opening weekend of action in Tallinn. Hosting Lithuania and Latvia, Estonia got off to a winning start to the tournament when they defeated Latvia by 15 runs. Batting first in overcast conditions, Estonia got through to 94 in their 20 overs, before restricting their guests to 79 runs. Latvia looked to reverse their luck later in the day when they took on Lithuania, but it was not to be as the Lithuanians set a competitive score of 120, before holding Latvia to 97. The final match of the weekend saw the two unbeaten teams come up against each other. On their home field, Estonia remained strong, claiming the win to pick up a maximum three points going into the second of three rounds, which is set to be played in Lithuania in July.

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