21st June 2013 06:26
There is little questioning of the quality that some of those disciplines will bring in Lithuania's second city Kaunas this weekend.
The venue for the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships and then the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships will be the stage for one of Europe's leading competitors in Croatian discus thrower Sandra Perkovic.
A year ago she retained her European Athletics title in Helsinki before winning the Olympic title in London and this summer she has shown she is the favourite for the World Championships in Moscow with a series of fine wins.
Perkovic is unbeaten in the IAAF Diamond League with victories in Doha (68.23m), New York (68.48m) and Rome (68.25m).
The middle one of those remains the best throw in the world this year and Perkovic will surely guarantee maximum points as Croatia chase promotion after relegation in 2011.
But as this event is so much about the amount of consistent placings, Perkovic alone cannot ensure team success.
Ana Simic, who has cleared 1.95m in the high jump, should also score maximum points while among others Dario Horvat, with a 200m season's best of 21.09, will add to the total.
Slovenia also dropped down with Croatia two years ago and this pair will be strong in a league with Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, Lithuania and Serbia.
It is the hammer where Slovenia has one of their greatest athlete in Primoz Kozmus, the Olympic champion from Beijing in 2008.
He has the best throw this summer among his rivals here with 78.83m but Croatia's Andras Haklits could push him close as he has reached 75.14m in 2013.
But Slovenia have a strong team with Martina Ratej, whose 62.29m is eighth on the European Athletics' javelin rankings, and Barbara Spiler, who has thrown 69.58m for the hammer this year.
Serbia were third in 2011, the gap was 27 points but they cannot be ruled out and neither should Lithuania who should have some good local support,
Their team will include two medallists from the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki with Raivydas Stanys, who won silver in the high jump, and Lina Grincikaite, who won bronze in the 100m.
In 2010, Lithuania were in the 1st League before suffering relegation, but they will be determined to make a push to make the top two. Israel and Cyprus, both promoted last time, will aim not to go straight back down.