Legendary Lithuanian basketball player Sarunas Marciulionis will visit Armenia on June 3-6.
The Embassy of Lithuania in Armenia and Mediamax Media Company organized the visit of Sarunas Marciulionis and leading Armenian mobile operator VivaCell-MTS is the general partner.
Sarunas Marciulionis won the gold medal in the Olympic Games in Seoul (1988; within USSR national team), the bronze medal in the Olympics in Barcelona (1992; within Lithuanian National Team) and Atlanta (1996; within Lithuanian National Team).
1988 Olympic Champions (left to right): Sarunas Marciulionis, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Arvydas Sabonis, Valdemaras Chomicius.
Sarunas Marciulionis played for Vilnius Statyba Club from 1981 to 1989.
Sarunas Marciulionis was one of the first Soviet players to play in the U.S. National Basketball Association (NBA). In 1989 he signed a contract with Golden State Warriors Club and played for it until 1994. Over 1994-1997, he played for Seattle SuperSonics, Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets.
“In 2009, legendary Australian tennis star, Wimbledon Champion Pat Cash was one of our guests within Armenia Grateful 2 Rock project and he held a master-class for young Armenian tennis players. Five years have passed since then, but I still cannot forget the excitement in the eyes of the children the legendary champion worked with. This year Mediamax marks its 15th anniversary and we decided to launch “Great Champions” project timed to it; within the project we will invite popular athletes to Armenia who will deliver master-classes for children. VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian agreed to be the general partner of “Great Champions” project, and when the Lithuanian Ambassador recommended inviting Sarunas Marciulionis to Armenia, we realized it will be an excellent starting-point for the project”, said Director of Mediamax Ara Tadevosyan.
“Armenians used to love Lithuanian basketball very much. In mid-80s the Soviet Top League final matches between Moscow CSKA and Kaunas Zalgiris were being held, and many Armenians knew by heart the names of players of the Lithuanian club for which they sincerely rooted”, added Ara Tadevosyan.
Within his Yerevan visit Sarunas Marciulionis will meet Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Gabriel Ghazaryan and Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee (NOC), Chairman of the Armenian Basketball Federation Hrachya Rostomyan.
On June 4, Sarunas Marciulionis will hold a master-class for around 120 children.
“The Other Dream Team” movie recounting the phenomenon of Lithuanian basketball will be screened at Moscow Cinema in the evening of June 4 and after that the audience will have an opportunity to ask Sarunas Marciulionis questions.
Our readers have an opportunity to win invitation cards for the screening of the movie by answering the questions of the quiz available here.
Sarunas Marciulionis will become 50 on June 13, 2014.
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