Osmanović to host reception for sitting volleyball players, awards still pending

The first official reception for the BiH sitting volleyball team, which won a silver medal at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, will be organized by the Minister of Civil Affairs of BiH, Adil Osmanović, on November 7 at 11:00 AM, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

The only „reception“ for our most decorated team was organized at Sarajevo Airport on September 20 (in the midst of the pre-election campaign), but after that day, and even after the elections, no one deigned to receive and reward the golden boys and their coach Mirza Hrustemović.

From the Ministry of Civil Affairs, they confirmed to Patria that before the BiH team's departure for the Paralympic Games in Brazil, the Paralympic Committee of BiH was allocated 55,000 KM from the grant “Co-financing of sports events for 2016.”

Also, the distribution of additional funds from the same grant is underway. Unfortunately, we can only operate within the funds at our disposal, and the Ministry has proposed an additional 25,000 KM for the BiH Sitting Volleyball Association – the response states.

As the Ministry of Civil Affairs points out, they hope that other institutions, which have budgets for these purposes, will recognize the significance of the results achieved by the BiH sitting volleyball team and adequately reward them.

Given that the Minister of Culture and Sports of the Sarajevo Canton, Mirvad Kurić, was also at Sarajevo Airport, we asked whether he might organize a reception for the sitting volleyball players, considering they brought a silver medal from the Paralympics to the Sarajevo Canton, and whether any funds would be allocated as a reward for the BiH national team members. We received a response that discussions are ongoing with other levels of government to secure larger funds for the national team members.

- If no agreement is reached, the Ministry of Culture and Sports will organize a reception and award prizes to the athletes on its own. We organized the welcome at Sarajevo Airport, and I admit that the awards have been somewhat delayed, but they will certainly be rewarded - Kurić told NAP, adding that they financially supported the team's trip to Rio de Janeiro.

We remind you that at Sarajevo Airport were also the Minister of Veterans' Affairs of the Federation of BiH, Salko Bukvarević, the Minister of Veterans' Affairs of the Sarajevo Canton, Muharem Fišo, Deputy Mayor Abdulah Skaka, and the Chairperson of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, Ana Babić.

This was the fifth consecutive medal from the Paralympics for the BiH national team. They have been European champions nine times and world champions three times.

Egyptian president hosted athletes

For example, the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, organized a reception at the presidential palace for all athletes who participated in the Olympic and Paralympic Games and won a total of 15 medals, with the value of the awards given to the athletes exceeding 3 million KM.

Thus, Sisi welcomed, among many athletes, the sitting volleyball team that won third place at the Paralympic Games. The president thanked the athletes for representing their country with dignity and achieving success.