Mindaugas_Šliūpas
Mindaugas Šliūpas
Lithuanian basketball player
Mindaugas Šliūpas (1919–1979) was a Lithuanian basketball player. He won gold medal with the Lithuania national basketball team during EuroBasket 1939.[3] He played one game against Finland and scored no points.[4]
He was a son of physician Rokas Šliūpas and nephew of activist Jonas Šliūpas.[5] After graduating from the Kaunas War School, he studied law at the Vytautas Magnus University.[6] On 15–22 April 1945, while World War II was still ongoing, the Soviet Union organized the 6th tournament of eight cities in Kaunas.[7] Šliūpas was the only team member who played in the EuroBasket 1939.[8] The Lithuanian team won all games except it tied with the Moscow team 25:25.[7] The Moscow team evened out the score after a being awarded questionable free throw and was declared the overall winner of the tournament based on the overall points scored during the tournament.[8] After the tournament, several Lithuanian basketball players, including Šliūpas, Vincas Sercevičius, Stasys Šačkus, Vilius Variakojis, were arrested and deported to Gulag camps.[8] Šliūpas was arrested on 16 June 1945 and was imprisoned in a Dalstroy camp in the Magadan Oblast.[9] He was released in 1956 and returned to Lithuania.[1] Upon his return, he worked in land improvement and drainage.[6]