Sports in brief - 2011-04-28

  • 2011-04-27

The names of three players who bet that their team would lose by more than 30 points in a Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) match have been revealed. According to www.lithuaniabasketball.com, Vytautas Buzas, Rimas Varanauskas and Vidmantas Uzkuraitis, who all play for near bottom of the table Naglis, have been found guilty of betting against their team to lose by more than 30 points in a regular season match against league leaders Zalgiris. The players have each been handed fines in the region of 900 euros, as well as being dealt two year suspensions. The reason for the lightness in the fines is understood to be because of the co-operation that the Naglis team management has shown in dealing with the matter. Naglis administration became suspicious when their team appeared to stop playing defense in the final quarter as Zalgiris’ lead began to approach 30 points. A later internal investigation showed that an irregularly high number of wagers had been placed on Naglis to lose by more than 30 points.

The Lithuanian and Latvian U-18 rugby teams have finished third and fourth in their respective groups at the U-18 Justin Bridou European Championships in France. Playing in the second division, Lithuania persevered for a 12-10 win in a tough opening match against Poland, setting them up for a semifinal encounter with Sweden. It was another tough encounter, but on this occasion it was Sweden who prevailed, winning 19-10. In the playoff for third and fourth, Lithuania held on over a fast finishing Czech Republic to win 15-12. Playing in the third division, Latvia also began promisingly, winning their opening game against Austria 15-11. They could not, however, make it two for two in the semifinals, with Serbia scoring a try in each half to beat the Latvians 12-5. Left in a similar position to Lithuania, Latvia went into their third place playoff game against Luxemburg full of confidence. However, their opponents scored a try in each half to win the encounter 12-7.

The Latvian men’s hockey team has won their final two warm-up matches ahead of the World Championships which start on Friday, defeating Norway in back-to-back matches in Riga on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Settling on a lineup almost identical to that which will travel to Slovakia, the Olegs Znaroks’ coached side prevailed 4-1 on Monday evening and 5-3 an evening later. Falling behind early in the first game, Latvia rallied hard in the final minutes of the second period, scoring three goals in six minutes to take complete control of the game. They then added a fourth early in the final period to wrap up the match. As expected, Norway provided stiffer opposition an evening later, but it was Latvia who was the better of the two teams.