Icon Sabonis to head Lithuanian federation

Lithuanian basketball legend Arvydas Sabonis was elected head of the Baltic nation's basketball federation in a unanimous vote on Monday, just a month after suffering a heart attack. The 46-year-old will replace Vladas Garastas, his former coach at both international and club level, who has headed the federation since 2003. "Basketball makes Lithuania famous all over the world and unites the nation," Sabonis told a federation conference where he received the votes of all 98 participants. "I will be pleased if I can contribute to basketball's development with my work, experience and will," he added at the event held in the central city of Kaunas. Sabonis, who was the only candidate for the post, decided to run despite suffering a heart attack in September.After being released from hospital three weeks ago, he will have his condition monitored for at least six months. Sabonis was inducted into the NBA's Hall of Fame earlier this year. Considered one of the top passing centres of all time, he played seven seasons for the Portland Trail Blazers between 1995 and 2003. He also won Olympic gold for the Soviet Union, and two bronzes for Lithuania once it returned to international competition after breaking free from five decades of Kremlin rule in 1990. Sabonis is a household name in Lithuania, a nation of three million where basketball is often dubbed the second religion, after Catholicism. One in 34 of the population plays the sport, according to figures from world governing body FIBA, and Lithuania's national teams are regularly among the globe's top rankers.