This is big news in Greece this morning, reported in gazetta.gr by my good friend and colleague Antonis Kalkavouras.
Jasikevicius spent three seasons with Panathinaikos from 2007-08 to 2009-10, then split last season for Lietuvos Rytas in Lithuania and Fenerbahce Ulker in Turkey.
Despite playing less than 20 minutes per game, the 35-year-old Jasikevicius was Lithuania’s third-leading scorer in EuroBasket and averaged 4.6 assists — the third-highest total in the tournament behind Milos Teodosic of Serbia and Viktor Khryapa of Russia.
Lithuania finished fifth in the tournament after defeating Greece 73-69 Saturday night, and they will have a chance to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics next July when the final three teams in the 12-team field will be determined. Lithuania has never missed the Olympics in men’s basketball since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.
Spain and France, which play for the gold medal tonight, have secured the two Olympic berths that were up for grabs in this tournament. Greece, Lithuania, Macedonia and Russia reached the pre-Olympic qualifier.
“After finishing, the taste in my mouth is good and sweet because even though the loss to Macedonia was tough, we managed to stay together as a team and to accomplish the goal of taking part in the pre-Olympic tournament,” Jasikevicius said.