Thirteen years ago, Ed Peskowitz, the co-owner of Atlanta Hawks, established The Friendship Games to strengthen sport and diplomatic cooperation in the Middle East. The first tournaments were held at TelAviv, then moved to the resort town of Eilat.
The 2018 friendship tournament was attended by the VMU basketball team. In addition to the Livonian students, both Ukrainian and Polish basketball teams, middle east teams from Israel, Palestine, Jordan participated. Ten men’s teams and five female women’s teams competed for the champions name. Breading 40 degrees and more heat in the city of Eilat for the basketball players of Vytautas Magnus University did not prevent the start of the Pergala Friendship Tournament against the Irish basketball team. The Lithuanian Students finished a difficult victory over the Israel student squad (42:38). Rytis Juknevičius (11 points), Dominykas Domarkas (10 points), Ernestas Sederevičius (6 points). 
In the semi-final, VMU basketball players met with the team of Eilat City, which ranks in the highest Israeli league. But the fact that the Eilat team did not have the strongest composition did not improve the semi-finals. Alexander Kudaba, Adviser to the Lithuanian Ambassador to Israel, arrived in the semifinals of the VMU Basketball Team. The match went to a point and after two quarters the score was equal (30:30). In the second part of the match, Simonas Kriaučiūnas and Vainius Steponavičius have been able to get a better lead. The three-point tray did not end there, Julius Liesis, D. Domarkas and R. Juknevičius also added their striking throws and the VMU basketball players celebrated the victory (48:37). The final of the meeting met in a group with two teams waiting for the victory of the VDU team (42:38). The team started the first quarter and did not make any bigger breakthroughs. Another image after the first round, the Israeli team continued to target attacks on which the attack on VMU was dead. For a long break, Lithuanian students left behind 8 points (30:38). The aggressive and energetic defense of the third quarter struck the Israeli team out of the creeps. R. Juknevičius took 7 balls in the final match, most of the third in the quarter. 
The snipers Dominykas Domarkas wound up two three-pointers, Vainius Steponavičius pain stakes him and VDU team has 5 points ahead of the fourth quarter (50:45). The Israeli team apparently shrugged against the visceral and team defense of the VMU. The throwing and throwing away from distances continued to be targeted and this left the Israeli student basketball team away from the championship title. At the end of the match, with more energy played, VDU players beat the Israeli team (68:54) and raised the championship cup. VMU team: Rytis Juknevičius, Bartautas Blažauskas, Ernestas Sederevičius, Lukas Balčiūnas, Dominykas Domarkas, Vainius Steponavičius, Mindaugas Čibiras, Simonas Kriaučiūnas, Julius Liesis, trainer Arūnas Juknevičius, team leader Airidas Nutautas.
