Djoković and Moldovan Serbia’s Top Athletes in 2014 Featured
- Written by Branimir Vasic
BELGRADE – Tennis star Novak Djoković and kayak rower Nikolina Moldovan were selected as Serbia’s top athletes by the Serbian Olympic Committee, it was announced at a celebration held in the Serbian Parliament building attended by the Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolić.
The best men’s squad was the national basketball team. No award was made for the best female team.
Nikolina Moldovan is the first kayak rower to get this recognition. At the world championships in Moscow, paired with sister Olivera, she won a silver medal in the 500 meter race, and won a bronze rowing on her own.
The Olympic Committee has selected world tennis number one Novak Djoković for the fifth time. In 2014 Djoković returned to the top of the ATP list and won a total of seven tournaments, including Wimbledon and the concluding Masters in London.
The basketball team won a silver at the world basketball championships. Twelve years since the gold medal taken in Indianapolis, Serbia’s basketball stars took a new medal at the world championships and justified the title “Serbia, Land of Basketball”.
In a year when a youth Olympics was also held, the Olympic Committee awarded a trophy to the most successful young team, the under-19 volleyball squad, which won the title at the European championships held in Finland and Estonia.
The most successful young athlete was judo player Nemanja Majdov, who took a silver in the Youth Olympics in Nanking. This year Nemanja also took the gold at European level.
The most successful coach was Dragan Plavšić, whose competitors Nikolina and Olivera Moldovan, Marko Tomićević and Vladimir Torubarov took a total of eight kayak medals this year. The winner of the trophy entitled Sports and Arts is Dragan Bjelogrlić, director of the films Montevideo, God Saw You and Montevideo, See You!
The well-known Serbian actor, writer, director and producer has in the past few years attracted attention to sports on film, with two feature films and a TV series showing the participation of the team of the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia at the first World Soccer Cup, held in Uruguay in 1930.
Vlade Divac, the President of the Olympic Committee, congratulated the awardees and wished them a lot of success in 2015.
“You should know that at every moment in time you have the support of the entire nation, because you are the best Serbia has. I wish you the fulfillment of your dreams in the coming year and that you find a place for yourself in the Olympics in Rio in two years’ time,” Divac said.
Source:House of Good News