President Milanović Receives Delegation of Croatian Deaf Sports Association and Medal Winners at the Deaflympics
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received today a delegation of the Croatian Deaf Sports Association and medal winners at the Deaflympics (Olympic Games for deaf athletes) that were held in Tokyo in November.
Croatian athletes won nine medals at the Deaflympics, which is the most successful performance by Croatian athletes with hearing impairments in history. President Milanović congratulated them on this great success. The performance in Tokyo placed Croatia among the most successful sports nations when it comes to sports for persons with hearing impairments, as evidenced by the nine medals won, four gold and five bronze, said Oliver Lušić, president of the Croatian Deaf Sports Association and captain of the national handball team.
The Croatian men’s handball team won a gold medal for the sixth time, making it their ninth Deaflympics medal in total. The gold medals in athletics were won by Laura Štefanac in javelin throw, Mia Nekić in discus throw and Matea Kolovrat in taekwondo. Bronze medals were won by Boris Grmanjak in shooting, Petra Goleš in taekwondo, and three bronze medals were won by Nikola Zdrilić in swimming. Introducing the participants and medal winners, Lušić pointed out that 34 athletes competed in Tokyo in as many as seven sports – handball, table tennis, athletics, shooting, swimming, taekwondo and judo.
The Croatian Deaf Sports Association is the central body that encourages, develops and organizes sports programmes adapted to the needs of athletes with hearing impairments. Since 1992, it has brought together sports clubs and sports associations of deaf persons from all over Croatia. The first Deaflympics in which Croatia participated were the Summer Deaflympics in Sofia in 1993, and Croatian athletes have so far competed in nine Summer Deaflympics winning a total of 26 Olympic medals.
Attending the reception in the Office of the President of the Republic besides the president and captain of the national handball team were: members of the Croatian Deaf Sports Association Kristijan Živković, Pero Čerkez, Martin Berisha, Kiti Iveta, Ante Plećaš, Matej Bagarić and Dorijana Kavčić and medal winners Laura Štefanac, Matea Kolovrat, Petra Goleš; members of the national handball team Bruno Varšić, Žiga Bedenik, Florijan Kolarić, Leonardo Vučak, Marjan Turković, Tomislav Bošnjak, Patrik Radić, Teo Glumac, Andrej Juričević, Nikola Zdrilić and Boris Gramnjak.
Also attending the reception were other participants of the Deaflympics: Josipa Matijašec, Jakob Ivan Košak, Viktor Barešić, Anja Okreša, Lana Skeledžija, Bruno Pervan, Antonio Žgomba and Hana Kapetanović, manager of the National Handball Team Mario Sirotić and manager of the shooting team Tomislav Lazić as well as coaches Leo Škerjanec, Ivona Jurišić, Brian Kamstra and Zvonimir Ivašković.
Alongside President Milanović was the Commissioner of the President of the Republic for Sports Tomislav Paškvalin.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek