Basketball coaches and former national team members said today that they are satisfied with the decision to name two large sports halls in Belgrade after the legends Professor Aleksandar Nikolić and Ranko Žeravica, and that it was the least that could be done for them.
Sports and recreation center "Tašmajdan", on the initiative of coach Božidar Maljković, decided to name the Pionir hall after basketball great professor Aleksandar Nikolić, and as of yesterday, that is its new name, while earlier it was decided to name the Sports hall in New Belgrade after the legendary coach Ranko Žeravica.
"I am one of the supporters of that idea, and our frontman was the fantastic Božidar Maljković, who fought for it for 15 years. We are all a little bit the children of those great men and we feel a little like orphans when they leave. I am very pleased that the two halls were named after Žeravica and Professor Nikolić. It is the least that can be done for them, considering how much they have done, not only for our basketball players, but in general for this space, which has achieved a lot on the political and international level through the good results of basketball." former Yugoslavia coach Bogdan Tanjević told the Beta agency.
The coach of Montenegro and former coach of Bosnia added that he is sentimentally attached to Nikolić and Žeravica.
"I started playing under Žeravica for the junior national team in 1963, and after that for the A team, while I was Nikolić's assistant. When he stopped working, he came to me to hang out," the Montenegrin coach added.
Fenerbahce coach Željko Obradović said that two basketball legends deserved to have two big halls named after them and that there should be criteria for such subsequent actions.
"I am extremely happy and satisfied that two legends of basketball, two men who deserved it, received this recognition. After Žeravica, the professor also received this honor, they absolutely deserve it and I am glad, but there should be criteria for such things in the future," Obradović told the Beta agency.
Former national team member Dražen Dalipagić praised the decision, but said that Nikolić and Žeravica deserved more than that.
"I am glad to get what they deserve, and they deserve much more than that. It's a small thing for Yugoslav Basketball and not only for the players, I was only interested in what I was to be appointed, but I would not like my name for my name," he said Dalipagić Beti.
Former Yugoslav national team player and Partizan legend Dragan Kićanović said he was satisfied.
"It's the right thing. I'm satisfied and happy because Nikolić and Žeravica are of basketball size. They deserved it," Kićanović told the Beta agency.
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