The Montenegrin tradition of successful martial arts results at the Olympic Games in the Pariz Nord hall will be defended by a lady - 20-year-old Budvanka Bojana Gojković will be our first participant in the biggest tournament in the noble skill.
The young boxer started her journey to the City of Light and the tournament of the 22 best boxers in the world in the category up to 54 kilograms, together with her trainer in BK Budva and selector Nikola Ružić, together with water polo players, tennis player Danka Kovinić and swimmers Jovan Kuljač and Miloš Milenković.
At the tournament, by the way, there are no domestic female boxers among the top 22, and for the first time the boxers from the host country of the OI had to go through qualifications to qualify. So, for the first time since Seoul in 1988, boxing will not be a "testing ground" for improving the medal balance of the hosts of the Games.
- Bojana has proven her quality with her results and we have high expectations. We have gone to every competition so far with optimism and ambition to achieve the best result. It is true that this tournament is new for Bojana and me, but it never occurs to us not to aim for the best result. In my opinion, the most important thing is for Bojana to give her maximum at the Olympic tournament. I expect that, and for success you need sports luck and God's will - said Ružić for "Vijesti".
Only recently resolved decade-long problems in the management of judo, and the selfish interests of the leadership of the World Karate Federation deprived our supertalented generation of the Olympic dream, while in taekwondo a generation of enormous potential is just emerging.
Boxing is also in trouble, because due to the conflict between the IOC and the World Association - IBA, at the OI in Paris, the noble skill is the only one outside the auspices of the parent federation. Tournaments, qualifying and Olympic, are organized by the IOC, but with half of the official categories.
Thus, the best boxer in Europe up to 86 kilograms, Petar Liješević, and the bronze medalist from the European lightweight championship, Tomislav Đinović, did not even have the opportunity to qualify. Gojković also had a problem, before the qualifying tournament in Taiwan, she dropped kilograms to the category below, and after two victories in the fight for Paris, she controversially lost to the six-year-old Asian champion Wen Huan from Taipei. The Montenegrin Olympic Committee, together with the Boxing Association, issued an urgent appeal to the IOC to issue a special invitation for Bojana.
- The draw is on July 25, two days after the first fight. After the draw, we will have a clearer picture and prepare a strategy for the fight. It would be good if her fight was not the first and we should also prepare for the judges' criteria. And we all know the rivals. In Italy, we trained for 12 days in the famous boxing base in the city of Assisi. There, the emphasis was on combat practice and we made the most of it. We did six sparring matches with female boxers who are qualified for the Olympic Games, so there is no further need to comment on the quality of the work - pointed out Ružić.
On the first day, there are six matches, in which the winners will join the lucky ones in the round of 30 draw. Those fights are on the program on July 1, and on August 4 the fights for medals - the quarterfinals. There are 8 semi-finals, and the final on August XNUMX.
- I am satisfied with the preparations, because Bojana controlled the fight better every day, felt the distance. We did the rest of the preparations before going to Paris in Budva. There, the emphasis was on speed, tactical and technical details with regulation of prescribed weight. Bojana is one of the three youngest participants in the Paris Nord Arena, but she has proven her quality with six grand finals. There are rival women who tactically do not suit, and it is true that due to style, we would also like to avoid certain rival women. But we try not to think about it and not to waste energy in vain. We will know everything after the draw. Without ambitions and high expectations, we wouldn't even go to Paris - concluded Ružić.
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