Algirdas Linkevičius (born 12 October 1950) is a retired

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player, coach, most notable for his playing career in Žalgiris from 1969 to 1982.

Early life

Linkevičius was

Biržai Biržai (, also known by several alternative names) is a city in northern Lithuania. Famous for its reconstructed Biržai Castle manor, the whole region is renowned for its many traditional-recipe beer breweries. Name The exact origin of th ...

Sports School pupil. His first coach was

Vladas Garastas Vladas Garastas (born February 2, 1932, in Linkuva) is a former Lithuanian professional basketball coach and the former president of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation. Coaching career Before retirement, he coached the Soviet Union national t ...

. Onwards, he graduated the Lithuanian Sports University (LVKKI) in 1973. From 2001 to 2010 he worked as a Kaunas District Sports School basketball coach.

Professional career

Linkevičius began his professional sports career in Žalgiris basketball team and played for it from 1969 to 1982. He also represented Kaunas Drobės squad multiple times from 1974 to 1987. Though, his biggest achievements were reached with Žalgiris with which he won the Lithuanian basketball league seven times (1974, 1976, 1978–80, 1986, 1987), USSR tournament silver (1980) and USSR bronze three times (1971, 1973, 1978).

National team career

He played 67 games for the Lithuania SSR men's national team and scored 741 points. He also was the Soviet Union national team member in 1972. Though, he was unable to be a part of it more because he was born in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

where his both parents were deported.Sibiro tremtyje gimęs krepšinio legenda A.Linkevičius atšventė 60-metį

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linkevicius, Algirdas BC Žalgiris players 1950 births Living people Lithuanian men's basketball players