Sport
Several teams are based in the city. The largest is the basketball club BC Lietuvos Rytas, which participates in European competitions such as the Euroleague and Eurocup, the domestic Lithuanian Basketball League, and the Baltic Basketball League, winning the ULEB Cup (predecessor to the Eurocup) in 2005 and the Eurocup in 2009. Its home arena is the 1,700-seat Lietuvos Rytas Arena; all European matches and important domestic and Baltic matches are played in the 11,000-seat Siemens Arena. Another team participating in LKL is BC Sakalai.
The biggest football team in Vilnius is VMFD Žalgiris Vilnius of the A Lyga. Žalgiris Vilnius has won the A Lyga on three occasions – in 1991, 1992, and 1999. The club was renamed in 2009, after an unviable situation in which the owners preferred not to sell the club. The only other team from Vilnius currently playing in the A Lyga is FK REO. Vilnius was host to one of the most successful Lithuanian football sides of current times, FK Vėtra, which reached Intertoto and UEFA Cups despite its short existence (the club was founded in 1997). However, the club was expelled from the Lithuanian Football Federation in 2010 because of its financial problems.
The city is home to the Lithuanian Bandy Association, Badminton Federation, Canoeing Sports Federation, Baseball Association, Biathlon Federation, Sailors Union, Football Federation, Fencing Federation, Cycling Sports Federation, Archery Federation, Athletics Federation, Ice Hockey Federation, Basketball Federation, Curling Federation, Rowing Federation, Wrestling Federation, Speed Skating Association, Gymnastics Federation, Equestrian Union, Modern Pentathlon Federation, Shooting Union, Triathlon Federation, Volleyball Federation, Tennis Union, Taekwondo Federation, Weightlifting Federation, Table Tennis Association, Skiing Association, Rugby Federation, Swimming Federation.
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Famous quotes containing the word sport:
“The sport of digging the bait is nearly equal to that of catching the fish, when one’s appetite is not too keen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What sport shall we devise here in this garden
To drive away the heavy thought of care?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,
And parting summer’s lingering blooms delayed,
Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,
Seats of my youth, when every sport could please,
How often have I loitered o’er the green,
Where humble happiness endeared each scene.”
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)