VMU athletes win 52 medals at the SELL Student Games
One of the largest student sports events in the Baltic States, the 39th SELL Student Games, took place this year in Kaunas, as well as at the sports venues of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU). Over 1,300 student athletes from 10 countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Italy, Slovakia, and Romania) and 36 higher education institutions participated in the sporting event, which was held from May 16-19. The haul of VMU athletes was impressive: 52 medals.
Over 120 VMU athletes competed in athletics, swimming, sports climbing, judo, badminton, orienteering, chess, table tennis, volleyball, beach volleyball, basketball, 3×3 basketball, and mini football (7×7).
Badminton tournaments were held in the hall of the VMU Sports Centre, and indoor volleyball finals were played there as well. The VMU President Valdas Adamkus Sports Centre hosted the basketball and 7×7 mini-football games, 3×3 basketball and beach volleyball teams also competed here. On the last day of the Games, the closing ceremony and awards ceremony also took place in the VMU President Valdas Adamkus Sports Centre.
Badminton
VMU badminton players enjoyed a plethora of medals at the badminton games. In the men’s singles, all three prize places went to VMU players: bronze to Povilas Bartušis, silver to Andrii Don, and gold to Oleksandr Shmundiak. In the women’s singles, Anastasiia Prokopovych, also a VMU student, won gold. In the men’s doubles, the gold went to the duo of Povilas Bartušis and Oleksandr Shmundiak, who were already awarded in the singles, while the bronze went to the duo of Dovydas Razas and Andrii Don. In the women’s doubles, the first place and gold medal went to the pair of VMU athletes Anastasiia Prokopovych and Ieva Gaidė. In the mixed team event, Oleksandr Shmundiak and Anastasiia Prokopovych won first place, with Andrii Don and Ieva Gaidė coming second.
Judo
Judo athletes won 7 gold and 3 silver medals at the Games. Among the women, the gold medalists were Vaiga Čečytė in the 57 kg category, Aida Vasiliauskaitė in the 70 kg category, and Modesta Milašiūtė in the 78+ kg category. Among the men, the gold medalists were Audrius Dunauskas in the 66 kg category, Kostas Butkus in the 81 kg category, Augustas Šlyteris in the 91 kg category, and Marijus Mitrochinas in the 100 kg category. The silver medalists were Vilnius Juonys in the 73 kg category, Kiril Volkov in the 91 kg category, and Zygimantas Šadeikis in the 100 kg category.
Basketball
In the men’s basketball tournament, two VMU teams won silver and bronze medals. The VMU-2 team, after beating the VMU-1 team 111-101 in the semi-finals, lost to Klaipėda University 90-66 in the final and was awarded the silver medal. The VMU-1 team beat Mykolas Romeris University 119-77 and secured the bronze medal.
3×3 Basketball
In the 3×3 basketball tournament, the men’s team did not beat the first team of Vilnius University in the semi-finals and won bronze medals. Similarly, the women’s team lost to the second team of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences in the semi-finals and secured third place and bronze medals.
Climbing Sports
In the sport climbing event, the silver medal went to Ūla Koroliova, while third place and the bronze medal went to Judita Sajauskaitė.
Athletics
VMU athletes won a number of medals in athletics: 5 gold, 7 silver, and 1 bronze. The gold medals went to Eva Misiūnaitė, the fastest in the 100 m; Andra Tamašauskaitė, the best in the 800 m; Kristupas Seikauskas, the fastest in both the 100 m and 200 m; and discus thrower Sonata Rudytė. The silver medals were awarded to Atėnė Šliževičiūtė and Gintarė Tirevičiūtė in the high jump, Matas Vilinauskas in the 110 m hurdles, Aistė Mižutavičiūtė in the triple jump, Andra Tamašauskaitė in the 1500 m, Robert Karagezian in the 100 m, and the team of Matas Vilinauskas, Lukas Šermukšnis, Valerijus Bakhovkin, and Kristupas Seikauskas in the 4×100 m relay. The bronze medal in the discus throw was awarded to Paulina Stuglytė of VMU.
Beach Volleyball
In the men’s beach volleyball competition, the VMU duo Artūr Vincėlovič and Arnas Rumševičius won first place and the gold medal after defeating Vilnius University in the final.
Swimming
All three VMU swimmers who participated in the swimming competitions won medals: Kajus Stankevičius won 2 gold medals (50 m and 100 m backstroke), Povilas Strazdas won a gold medal in the 200 m medley relay, and Tautvydas Sutkus won a bronze medal in the 100 m freestyle relay.
Table Tennis
Lukas Rimkus claimed the golden victory in the men’s table tennis tournament, while Rimas Lesiv secured third place. In the girls’ tournament, Vitalija Venckutė triumphed with her exceptional play, and Kornelija Ščiglaitė took the third place and the bronze medal. In the team competition, both VMU teams, women and men, secured first place and the gold medal.
Chess
VMU chess player Yaryna Ozhaiska won the silver medal and second place individually, while the entire VMU chess team took third place as a team.
Volleyball
VMU volleyball players secured victory in the women’s indoor volleyball tournament, earning gold medals by defeating the LSU women’s volleyball team 2:0 in the final.
Among the 36 higher education institutions participating in the SELL 2024 Student Games, VMU won the most medals. You can see the top 10 higher education institutions with the most medals here:
| Higher Education Institution | Gold medals | Silver medals | Bronze medals | Total |
| VDU | 26 | 15 | 11 | 52 |
| LSU | 18 | 13 | 15 | 46 |
| VU | 13 | 19 | 11 | 43 |
| LSMU | 7 | 3 | 7 | 17 |
| RTU | 5 | 7 | 1 | 13 |
| MRU | 5 | 1 | 6 | 12 |
| KTU | 4 | 11 | 19 | 34 |
| UL | 3 | 6 | 6 | 15 |
| Vilnius Tech | 3 | 5 | 11 | 19 |
| EASS | 3 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
You can see the full SELL 2024 statistics here.
Photo: Modestas Gailiūnas, Lithuanian Student Sports Association