ESBA Promo Championship 2014 will gather basketball-lovers of all ages in Latvia, as Liepaja is set to host the first-ever event organized by the newly founded European Seniors Basketball Association.
Alongside the traditional tournaments in eight different age categories, the ESBA Promo Championship will be headlined by a unique exhibition game, with former Lithuanian stars taking on a select team of delegates from the participating teams and Liepaja city officials.
The team of Lithuanian ex-Stars will feature the 1964-born generation, which triumphed in the 1981 USSR XVI Youth Sport Festival and the 1982 USSR III Youth Games, before going on to reach incredible heights in men’s basketball.
With nine members of the team turning 50-years-old this year, their participation is highly symbolic.
Back in the day, this generation produced former NBA players and world-level stars Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulionis, who won the Olympic gold medals in 1988 and then multiple Olympic and European Championship medals with the Lithuanian national team.
Although it is hard to compete against the two Olympic champions in terms of notoriety, the list of well known basketball personalities that grew up and played basketball together does not end with them.
Former Lithuanian national team head coach Ramunas Butautas, Olympic bronze medal winner Romanas Brazdauskis once were all part of this golden generation, who was also coached by one of the Lithuanian all-time greats Modestas Paulauskas.
Teams from seven different countries will compete in the ESBA Promo Championship 2014 in Latvia, which will take place on June 21-28 in the Liepaja Olympic Center.
