Bosnia and Herzegovina sitting volleyball team holds first training, ready for third gold medal

Bosnia and Herzegovina's colors at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics will be defended by the sitting volleyball team led by coach Mirza Hrustemović, and two athletes Dževad Pandžić (shot put) and Dženita Klico (shot put), writes the BH News Agency Patria.

Mirza Hrustemović's protégés have already completed their first training session, and there was also time to visit Rio's landmarks.

As our national team player Adnan Kešmer stated, the hosts are up to the task, and they have a few more training sessions before the first match. Our team is going for gold, and they play their first match against Ukraine on September 10.

- The Olympics are the pinnacle of sports competition; we know how important it is to participate, let alone defend the title of the best. We have come prepared, and we hope for a victory against the Ukrainians because we are the better team. They will be a warm-up match for us before other encounters – said Kešmer.

This is the fifth time the BiH national team is participating in the Paralympics (Sydney 2000 silver medal, Athens 2004 gold medal, Beijing 2008 silver medal, London 2012 gold medal).

Besides BiH, seven other teams are participating: Ukraine (instead of Russia), Iran, China, with whom we are in the group, and Brazil, Germany, USA, and Egypt.

The sitting volleyball team is our most decorated sports collective, nine-time European champions, three-time world champions. In Brazil, they will give their all to bring home gold from the Paralympics for the third time.