Minister Vulin: Proud of our military athletes

Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin and Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces General Milan Mojsilović hosted an official reception in the Great War Hall of the Old General Staff building for the national team of the Serbian Armed forces who participated in the 7th CISM World Military Games in the People’s Republic of China.

At recently finished world military games held in the town Wuhan, 43 competitors of the Serbian Armed Forces national team participated in 10 events – wrestling, taekwondo, orienteering, judo, boxing, swimming, athletics, parachuting, shooting and triathlon.
 
The members of the military national team brought back three medals from China – two were won by brothers Mate and Viktor Nemeš in Graeco-Roman wrestling, and the third was won by Sanja Vukašinović in small calibre rifle 50 meter shooting.
 
 Congratulating the athletes on the achieved success, Minister Vulin stressed that they had been asked to do just one thing – to give their best. Underlying that the three bronze medals were not a small thing, Minister Vulin said that he was grateful to all those who broke the records of the armed forces and their personal best scores – which meant that they better than themselves.
 
According to Minister Vulin, that is the essence of sport and that is the essence of our armed forces.
 
- The Serbian Armed Forces always go for the win. The Serbian Armed Forces competes against the entire world and against itself as well. When we outbetter our own selves, we have defeated the entire world. I am grateful to our Chinese hosts, because I know that they took care of us, and because I know that you were one of the most cordially welcomed delegations when you showed up with our flag at the opening of the World Military Games. I am grateful that you have given your best, for achieving good results in a competition that by no means falls behind the civilian world championship. You competed with world champions, holders of world records, winners of the Olympics, with the best in the world. We sent the best. All of you who came, had been the best in your events in Serbia – Minister Vulin stressed adding that we had sent only the best to China, who competed under the flag of our country and Serbian Armed Forces.
 
He sent message to the gathered athletes that they were expected to continue recording successes in the period to come, and that the Serbian Armed Forces would continue investing in sports, expanding sport activities, and through bilateral military cooperation send our athletes wherever they can to compete with other countries and thus prepare for some future world and European championships.

 - There, you did not compete solely in military skills; you first of all competed there in human skills. You have been remembered, and you bring nice memories from that competition, and a desire and need to return, and I believe that each of you wishes to worthily represent the Serbian Armed Forces in the world. Unlike some other competitions, you first of all represented our armed forces there, and not only yourselves. You are all renowned in your events, and your names are well known in the world of sports from which you come, but there, you were members of the Serbian Armed Forces, and that is the greatest honour that this institution and this country cand give you – Minister Vulin stressed adding that the Serbian Armed Forces were one of the most important national institutions, which preserves and enhances national values, while life, family, sports, need to compete and urge to win are the values which make the Serbian Armed Forces so important to be a part of it.
 
According to Head of Delegation of the Republic of Serbia to CISM Brigadier General Siniša Radović, members of the national team honourably represented their armed forces and their states at just finished competition in China, taking into consideration that it is a planetary event of armed forces from 109 countries of the world, with more than 9,300 participants, which is the greatest number since the dime when the military games were organised.

- Out of that number of countries, only 54 have won the medals, and the Serbian Armed Forces took the 36th place with three medals won. The national team of the Serbian Armed Forces has broken six records of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces in shooting and athletics, one of them dating back to 1995 – General Radović stressed adding that personal records of our athletes were also broken in shooting, athletics and parachuting.
 
General Radović thanked for today’s ceremony to the minister of defence and Chief of the General Staff for selfless support, and all others who had contributed to our competitors appearing at this year’s competition in China.
 
- All who participated in this competition, the athletes and others, gave an example of how you should relate to your armed forces and your state – General Radović sent a message adding that our national team had worthily represented the Serbian Armed Forces and the Republic of Serbia and that they would continue working for even better results in the future.

On behalf of participants in this year’s World Military Games in China, Sanja Vukašinović addressed the present, who expressed gratitude for having been invited to represent the Serbian Armed Forces at that prestigious and significant competition, adding that the athletes had given their best.
 
By achieving a notable result in shooting, Sanja won a bronze medal in China in the event of small calibre rifle shooting 3 positions.
 
- I was first of all honoured to represent the Serbian Armed Forces at such a prestigious and significant competition, both for the armed forces, and for us athletes – Sanja stresses and ads that this medals represents a great reward for her and it is at the same time the first medal from great competitions of this level.
 
Wrestler Viktor Nemeš also won the bronze medal at the competition in Wuhan in very strong competition.
 
- It is my honour and pleasure to have been given an opportunity to represent the Serbian Armed Forces at this competition. The competition was strong, and I was defeated by Olympics champion, hence, I can say that I am satisfied with this medal – Viktor Nemeš stressed pointing out that he hoped that he would have an opportunity in the future to represent the Serbian Armed Forces at competitions.

When it comes to successes of our military athletes at this year’s competition, a judoist Bojan Došen arrived at semi-finals, but he had to give up the competition due to an injury so he ended the competition in the fifth place. The same position was taken by Tijana Bogdanović in taekwondo, Milica Emini in 100 meter hurdle race and swimmer Velimir Stjepanović in 400 metre freestyle race, while in 200 metres butterfly race he took the eight place in the finals. Žarko Ćulum won the ninth place in judo.