The draw for the IBTA World Blind Tennis Championship was held at SEB Arena in Vilnius on Monday evening. It placed one of the leaders of the Lithuanian national team and European champion Karolis Verbliugevičius in Group C of the men’s B1 competition, where he will face Ireland’s Stuart Haxell and Poland’s Piotr Malicki.
Verbliugevičius will play his first match on Tuesday, 25 August. He will face Haxell on Court 17 at SEB Arena, with the match starting no earlier than 11:30 a.m. Later in the afternoon, the Lithuanian will take on Malicki on Court 18. The exact starting time of the second match will depend on the duration of the preceding matches.
A total of 22 athletes will compete in the men’s B1 category. They have been drawn into seven groups, with the top two players from each group advancing to the knockout stage.
Busy opening day for Lithuania’s B1 players
In addition to Verbliugevičius, Lithuania will be represented in the men’s B1 competition by Justas Pažarauskas and Gražvydas Butrimas.
Pažarauskas was drawn into Group G alongside Japan’s Harufumi Shiozawa, Germany’s Lars Stetten and Poland’s Sławomir Tolak-Ciszewski. The Lithuanian will also play two matches on the opening day of the Championship. At around 10 a.m., he will first face Shiozawa on Court 18 before taking on Stetten later on Court 17. Both matches will begin after the preceding matches have finished.
Butrimas will compete in Group F against Finland’s Pekka Rantanen and Germany’s Bernd Wiebe. On the opening day, the Lithuanian will face Rantanen on Court 19, with the match scheduled to start no earlier than 2 p.m.
In the women’s B1 competition, Oksana Dobrovolskaja was drawn into Group C alongside Germany’s Kirstin Linck, Poland’s Monika Dubiel and Great Britain’s Tracy Compton. Dobrovolskaja’s first match is scheduled for Tuesday on Court 19, no earlier than 11:30 a.m., when she will face Linck.
Strong Lithuanian representation in other categories
A large number of Lithuanian athletes will also compete in the other sight categories. In Group A of the men’s B2 competition, Vytautas Ališauskas will face Australia’s Oliver Fanshawe, Argentina’s Maximiliano Javier Diaz and Ireland’s Vincent Keane.
In Group B of the men’s B2 competition, Mindaugas Triušys will face Italy’s Davide Viglianti, Australia’s David Gordon and Poland’s Michał Orchowski. Karolis Tupalskis will compete in Group C against Australia’s Ethan Cook, Poland’s Marian Wywiórski and India’s Anoop Chandar RG. In Group D, Saulius Leonavčius will face Australia’s Mark Haskett, Luxembourg’s Nicolas Berodt and Poland’s Emil Stopierzyński.
In Group A of the women’s B2 competition, Aušra Rimelkytė will face Luxembourg’s Liz Conzemius and Germany’s Dana Granowski.
In the men’s B3 competition, Vilmantas Balčikonis will face Italy’s Luca Peruzzo, Spain’s Álvaro Azofra de Rivas and Poland’s Tomasz Błoński. Denas Damskis was drawn into a five-player Group D, which also includes athletes from Spain, Poland and Australia.
In the women’s B3 competition, Živilė Karoblienė will play in Group A against Germany’s Charlotte Schwagmeier and Poland’s Małgorzata Ignasiak. Indrė Zuzevičiūtė-Praškevičienė will face Poland’s Aleksandra Karakula, Australia’s Leah Glassenbury and Great Britain’s Louise Evans in Group C. In Group D, Vaida Litinskaitė will take on Great Britain’s Andrea Logan, France’s Delphine Deschamps and Finland’s Riita Tienhaara.
Championship opens with parade of nations
The draw concluded the first official day of the World Championship in Vilnius. National teams trained throughout Monday at SEB Arena, while the official opening ceremony was held on Centre Court, bringing together athletes, coaches and delegation representatives.
Verbliugevičius was the first to address his fellow athletes and future opponents. The Championship participants were then welcomed by Speaker of the Seimas Juozas Olekas, Mayor of Vilnius Valdas Benkunskas, President of the Lithuanian Tennis Association Ramūnas Grušas, Lithuania’s greatest tennis player of all time Ričardas Berankis, and Championship Director Aidas Danilovas.
The speeches were followed by a ceremonial parade of nations, with all participating delegations introduced before gathering together on the Centre Court at SEB Arena. Among the largest delegations in Vilnius are those from Poland and Australia, each numbering close to 20 people, as well as, naturally, the host Lithuanian team.
First matches start at 9 a.m. on Tuesday
The first matches of the World Blind Tennis Championship at SEB Arena will begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, 25 August. Athletes will compete across the B1, B2, B3 and B4 sight categories.
The Championship matches will also be available to watch live. Livestreams from the courts at SEB Arena will be available on https://www.blindsport.lt/live.
The IBTA World Blind Tennis Championship in Vilnius runs from 24 to 29 August. The finals will be played on Saturday, 29 August. Admission to all Championship matches is free.
