Donaldas Kairys – fired: “Rytas” will have a new coach

“First of all, we would like to apologize for the team’s recent results, which do not satisfy either the club or the Vilnius basketball community. Therefore, there could be no other decision after this match. We believed in Donald and his work in Vilnius, but looking at the results, change is inevitable. We wish him success in other stops of his career “, quotes rytasvilnius.lt to Darius Gudel, Chairman of the Board of Rytas.

In the summer of 2020, Vilnius Club signed a three-year contract with D. Kairis according to the 2 + 1 formula.

Giedrius Žibėnas, assistant to D. Kairis, can take command of “Rytas” temporarily or until the end of the season. This was confirmed by the official website of the club.

Until the Vilnius season, the 36-year-old Lithuanian became the Indonesian champion, working in Iran, Italy, Denmark and Estonia. Along with Greek George Ded, they attended D.Kairis this season.

Photo by Rokas Lukoševičius / 15min / Giedrius Žibėnas

By the way, G.Žibėnas has already led “Rytas” as a man for a couple of matches. coach and achieved two victories – in the third quarter of the match with Prienai “CBet” (105: 81), disqualified D.Kairys failed to coach the team and in the duel with Kėdainiai “Nevėžis-Optibet” (96:91).

“Kytas”, directed by D. Kairis, finished its performance in two tournaments this week.

With the defeat in Athens, Vilnius will withdraw from the FIBA ​​Champions League already after the group competition (there is still a consolation match with the Strasbourg SIG on 26 January), and Utena’s “Juventus” was eliminated of the Copa Rey Mindaugas (KMT) tournament in the “Rytas” quarterfinals.

“Rytas” lost the first battle at Utena 87:89, and even 78: 105 on the return. The last time Vilnius residents did not make the final four of the KMT in 2017.

With 9 wins and 5 losses, Rytas is third in the LKL championship.

There will be more changes to the Morning Club in the near future.

15 minutes To his knowledge, the Vilnius team plans to say goodbye to Legionnaires Ryan Boatright and Keith Benson. A few days ago, Maurice Ndour, one of the best players on the team, left China in the morning due to the offer.