The XI Lithuanian World Games scheduled to take place in Druskininkai, Lithuania, this past July have been postponed due to the pandemic until the summer of 2022. They will be held in Druskininkai then from July 14 to 17.
Organizing committee chair, vice-minister of Education, Science and Sports Linas Obcarskas noted that the games are an international, deeply-rooted tradition, providing Lithuanians in the diaspora an opportunity to renew their ties with their fatherland and acquaint themselves with today’s Lithuania and Lithuanians. Everyone hopes that next year it will be easier for everyone to travel and come to the Games from abroad. The ministry has allotted 1 million euros in the 2022 budget for the World Games, and will be seeking funding from other sources as well.
The tenth Games were held in Kaunas in 2017, with over 3,800 participants, including 2,650 Lithuanians from the diaspora. During the first independence period, the Games were called the Lithuanian National Olympics, and were held for the first time in Kaunas in 1938. They were suspended in Lithuania during the Soviet occupation, and 40 years later organized in Toronto, Canada, in 1978, later in Chicago, and from 1991 on in Lithuania.
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