Zalgiris fight drags on

Zalgiris president Arvydas Sabonis, who played in the NBA and won a gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, applied for the expansion to an arena which can only hold 5000 despite housing a team that plays in the EuroLeague.

The process of securing a new arena for the team began in 1998, with the city organising an international tender competition based on design, finance, and construction in 2005.

The competition was won by a proposal from the Consortium of Bouygues Batiment International with the design coming from, Michel Regembal, the architect helped design the Stade de France.

But construction is yet to begin on the project despite the plans being for the new stadium to be completed by the start of the 2009-10 EuroLeague season with the European Basketball Championships being scheduled to be held in Lithuania in 2011.